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CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY. 



THE LIPE OP ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 
THE LIPE OP THOMAS HALIBURTON. 



EDITED BY- THOMAS JACKSON. 

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PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

200 MULBERRY-STREET. 

1853. 



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THE 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 



CHIEFLY ABRIDGED FROM HIS "MEMOIRS" 
BY -DR. GIBBONS. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



No species of literary composition excites a deeper 
interest, or is more generally acceptable, than biography. 
Exhibiting, as it does, not only the outward conduct of 
men, but the principles and feelings by which they are 
actuated, under all the diversified circumstances of life, 
and in the prospect of a future state, it possesses a charm 
of which every mind is sensible. It gratifies a laudable 
curiosity, and it ministers to our instruction. 

Of all the different kinds of biography, that which is 
usually denominated religious, is, beyond comparison, the 
most important. By describing the origin, the progress, 
and the results of personal godliness, it shows us the man- 
ner in which we may also acquire and practise the holiness 
without which no man shall see the Lord. Here we see 
the doctrines of Christianity exemplified and embodied in 
the experience and characters of men ; and while we are 
impressed with the truth of revelation, and its adaptation 
to our condition and spiritual necessities, we are encou- 
raged in the pursuit of the blessings which it offers. If 
others have obtained its salvation, why should not wel 
The faithful record of even the failings and defects of good 
men has its use. It serves to warn others of their danger, 
and to urge the necessity of vigilance, prayer, and self- 
inspection. 

"With these views it is proposed to publish a series of 
volumes under the general title of " A Library of Christian 
Biography." The lives which it will comprehend will 
mostly consist of abridgments of larger works, some of 



D ADVERTISEMENT. 

which are scarce and little known. They will be selected 
from the different sections of the Christian church, both 
domestic and foreign. The subjects which will be succes- 
sively presented to the reader will be ministers and lay- 
men ; some of them eminent for their rank, talents, and 
scholarship ; others less distinguished ; but all demonstrat- 
ing, both in life and death, the truth and power of Chris- 
tian principle. Nothing properly sectarian wall be admitted 
into any of the volumes ; which will be especially adapted 
to the use of private families and individuals, and to the 
libraries of Sunday schools. The work may be expected 
to contain a considerable portion of historical information, 
both civil and ecclesiastical. The extent to which it will 
be carried, will, of course, greatly depend upon the patron- 
age with which it may be honoured ; but each volume, which 
will comprise one or more lives, will be complete in itself, 
and sold separately for the accommodation of those who 
do not choose to purchase the whole. A volume will be 
generally published every two months, or oftener, as the 
editor may be able to prepare them, and conduct them 
through the press.* 

London, May 31st, 1837. 



*The volumes of this work will be regularly received 
by us as they are issued from the press in London, and 
we shall publish those of them which may be approved, at 
such intervals as we shall find convenient. 

American Publishers. 

New -York, Jan. 16, 1838. 



THE LIFE 



ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 



CHAPTER I. 

Dr. Isaac Watts was born in Southampton, 
July 17th, 1674. His father, Mr. Isaac Watts, 
was the master of a very flourishing boarding 
school in that town, which was in such reputa- 
tion that gentlemen's sons were sent to it from 
America and the West Indies for education. He 
was a most pious, exemplary Christian, and 
honourable deacon of the church of Protestant 
dissenters in that place. He was imprisoned 
more than once for his nonconformity, and dur- 
ing his confinement his wife has been known to 
sit on a stone near the prison door suckling her 
son Isaac. It is reported of him, that while he 
was very young, before he could speak plain, 
when he had any money given him, he would 
say to his mother, " A book, a book, buy a book." 
He began to learn Latin at four years old ; and 
in the knowledge of that language, as well as 
in Greek, he made such a swift progress under 
the care of the Rev. Mr. Pinhorne, a clergyman 
of the establishment, that he became the delight 
of his friends, and the admiration of the neigh- 



8 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

bourhood. He studied Hebrew also under the 
same master. " The doctor was early taken 
notice of," says Dr. Jennings, " for his spright- 
liness and vivacity, — talents Avhich too often 
prove fatal snares to young persons ; but, through 
the power of divine grace, he was not only 
preserved from criminal follies, but had a deep 
sense of religion upon his heart betimes." As 
proofs, the one of his uncommon genius, and the 
other of his powerful impressions of piety, I will 
mention two particulars concerning him, com- 
municated to me by his sister, Mrs. Sarah 
Brackstone. When he was only about seven 
or eight years old he was desired by his mother 
to write her some lines, as was the custom with 
the other boys after the school hours were over, 
for Avhich she used to reward them with a 
farthing. The doctor obeyed, and presented 
her w r ith the following couplet : — 

" I write not for a farthing, but to try 
How I your farthing writers can outvie." 

About the same time of life he composed a copy 
of verses, which falling into the hands of his 
mother, she, upon reading them, expressed her 
doubts whether he was the author of them. To 
satisfy her what he was able to perform in poe- 
try, he wrote the following acrostic upon his 
own name : — 

I am a vile polluted lump of earth. 

So I've continued ever since my birth, 

A lthough Jehovah grace does daily give me, 

A s sure this monster Satan will deceive me ; 

C ome therefore. Lord, from Satan's claws relieve me-. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 9 

W ash me in thy blood, O Christ, 

A nd grace divine impart, 

T hen search and try the corners of my heart, 

T hat I in all things may be fit to do 

S ervice to thee, and sing thy praises too. 

It is said that while the doctor was a youth, 
Dr. John Speed, a physician, and some other 
gentlemen at Southampton, observing his genius, 
and being willing to encourage it, offered to be 
at the charge of his education at one of our 
English universities ; but that he declined the 
proposal, saying, that he was determined to take 
his lot among the dissenters. Accordingly, in 
the year 1690, he was sent to London for aca- 
demical education under the Rev. Thomas 
Rowe ; and in 1693, in his nineteenth year, he 
joined in communion with the church under the 
pastoral care of his tutor. I have heard the 
doctor speak with great honour of Mr. Rowe ; 
and there is an ode addressed to him in his 
" Lyric Poems," which breathes the high es- 
teem and affection he had for him. " I have 
been credibly informed," says Dr. Jennings, 
" that, while he resided in this college of learn- 
ing, his behaviour was not only so inoffensive 
that his tutor declared he never gave him any 
occasion of reproof, but so exemplary that he 
often proposed him as a pattern for his other 
pupils for imitation." No doubt can reasonably 
be made that the doctor diligently applied him- 
self to his studies, when it is recollected what 
a strong inclination he discovered to literature 
from his earliest age, and what treasures of 



10 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

knowledge and erudition lie opened to the world 
not many years after his academical education 
was completed. But to put the matter beyond 
all question, I will state that a manuscript 
volume, in his own hand, was given me by his 
brother, Mr. Enoch Watts, which contains no 
less than twenty-two Latin dissertations, which 
were evidently his college exercises. The sub- 
jects may be ranged under the articles of phy- 
sical, metaphysical, ethical, and theological. 
The following is a translation of the dissertation 
on the immateriality of the human soul : — 

" Very surprising and no less pernicious are, I 
know not whether I should not call them, those 
dreams of some philosophers who maintain that 
the mind of man is material, as the flagrant ab- 
surdities and mischiefs of such a notion must 
strike even the most hasty observer, some of which 
we may point out before we close our discourse. 

" Previous to our entrance upon our subject, 
it is proper we should settle our terms, lest, like 
as enemies brought over to our side may fall 
out with one another, our words should clash, 
at the same time that there is an agreement 
among the things themselves. 

" By ' the mind of man' I understand that co- 
gitation which every one feels within himself; 
or, to express myself more clearly, that internal 
principle of all our thoughts, of our desires, and 
of our volitions, to which we owe all those 
operations in which any degree of thought is 
concerned, or that principle which, as in its 
prime subject, includes all our thoughts. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 11 

" We shall next attend to our predicate. I 
call all that immaterial which is not extended, 
that which has not parts annexed to parts ; for 
whatever has the dimension of length, breadth, 
and thickness, is properly denominated matter 
in the opinion of the best philosophers. 
• " Having opened our way, we now enter into 
the field. But what a numerous and formidable 
host immediately appears in array against us ! 
First Epicurus, then Tertullian ; next Hobbes and 
his followers oppose me, — Greeks, barbarians, 
pagans, and some, though but a few, professors 
of the true religion. Some will not admit that 
the mind of man is immaterial, lest the conse- 
quence should press them that it is immortal ; 
and that they may have no check upon them in 
their course of sin, they exclude from the human 
soul the idea of immateriality. Others adopt 
the error that they may by it support their mis- 
taken notions in religion. And a third sort, 
through ignorance, prejudices, and inconsidera- 
tion, do not with sufficient accuracy draw the 
line between mind and matter. 

"We shall now consider what arguments may 
be alleged in proof of our proposition, that the 
mind of man is immaterial. I have selected 
the following reasons out of many that might be 
adduced : — 

" 1. If the body is capable of thinking, thought 
is a mode of body, and depends either upon the 
position of its parts, or upon motion. But what 
is that position of parts which thinks 1 What is 
its figure ? Does it consist of three or four 



12 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

angles ? Or, if thinking depends upon motion, 
let me ask what is that motion ? I know of no 
motion but what is local ; and if this is thinking, 
then whenever a body moves, it thinks. But 
these are mere bubbles which instantly dissolve 
before the breath of reason. 

" 2. Body or matter, according to philosophers, 
is a passive principle ; but who is there can 
deny but thinking is an action^ and more espe- 
cially that kind of it which is called volition ? 
You may perhaps reply, ' that matter is inert, 
but that there is a spiritual extension which is 
active.' To which I answer, that it must be in 
a manner different from that of reasoning, by 
which your error should be combated, that of 
distinguishing between extension and matter. 

" 3. If body can think, thinking must be either 
an essential or an accidental mode. It cannot 
be an essential mode, for, if it were, it would 
be inseparable, and all bodies would think. It 
cannot be an accidental mode, because Ave can 
have no conception of an accident — no not even 
upon the most refined abstraction — without a 
subject ; otherwise an accident would be con- 
ceived of without its essence, when its very 
being is an in-being in that essence. Now try, 
my adversary, I address myself to you, whether 
you cannot think of your will, of the power of 
determining yourself, of joy, of love, and your 
other affections, without any idea of any thing 
extended ? You can undoubtedly : conclude, 
then, that thought is not an accident of body. 

" 4. That is an essential, primary attribute of 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D, D. 13 

a thing, — and which indeed constitutes it, — - 
which may be conceived of without other pro- 
perties, at the same time that other properties 
cannot be conceived of without an idea of that 
attribute. Thinking and extension, considered 
in this manner, agree the one to spirit, the other 
to body ; nor does either the one or the other 
presuppose any thing besides in which it should 
be founded ; thinking and extension, therefore, 
are essential attributes of two particular kinds 
of beings, which are at the greatest remove 
from each other. Not, then, till these two es- 
sences constitute one simple being shall I be- 
lieve that thinking belongs to matter. 

"5. The last and grand argument, to which 
all lovers of truth will yield their assent, may 
be thus represented. It is an axiom that uni- 
versally prevails in philosophy, that an essence 
may be known by its operations ; or, in other 
words, as are the operations, such are the sub- 
jects. Now the operations of our minds are 
knowledge, doubting, affection, and the like. 
But what connection has extension with know- 
ledge ? Knowledge, unquestionably, has neither 
length, breadth, nor thickness. If, therefore, 
judgment or volition is immaterial, its subject is 
immaterial too. The body is incapable of ex- 
erting such acts ; for it would then go beyond 
the sphere of its power, and the effect would be 
more excellent than its cause. 

" Let these arguments suffice ; and to me they 
appear sufficient to satisfy any mind that will 
not obstinately adhere to its opinion against the 



14 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

force of reason. If any person, after all that 
has been alleged, should still insist upon it that 
his own mind is material, I shall have no objec- 
tion to his turning out among the animals which 
graze the fields, as he is utterly unworthy the 
society of philosophers, and indeed of mankind." 

Besides the Latin theses in the volume above 
mentioned, of which we have given this speci- 
men, there are also inserted two English dis- 
sertations : the first made, as the doctor prefixes 
it, " for our meeting together" (meaning, un- 
doubtedly, the students of the academy) " on 
Saturday in July, 1693," and the other " for our 
meeting together on Saturday, September 9th, 
1693." These dissertations have considerable 
merit, and show the doctor's diligence in the 
improvement of his time, and of his intercourse 
with his fellow-students. 

Mr. Enoch Watts also gave me several manu- 
script volumes of his brother, some of which I 
parted with several years since as curiosities to 
particular persons. What were the subjects of 
the volumes I have given away I cannot recol- 
lect, only that one of them, I believe, was an 
abridgment of Mr. Gale's learned work, called 
" The Court of the Gentiles." Two only of the 
number which Mr. Watts was so kind to present 
me are still in my hands ; one of which is enti- 
tled, " QucBStiones LogiccB ut plurimum desumpta 
ex Burgersdicii Institutionibus, et Heerboordii 
Commentariis, 1691, 1692;"* and the other, 

*In English, " Logical Questions collected for the great- 
est part, from Burgersdicius's Institutions and Heereboord's 
Commentaries." 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 15 

" Sententiolce qucedam £ Tractatu Lud. de la 
Forge de mente humand collects, aut potius Epi- 
tome ejusdem Tractates, 1691."* Neither of 
the volumes is very small, and must have cost 
the doctor considerable pains and patience, if 
any thing might be called pains and patience to 
him in his pleasurable pursuit of learning. He 
had a happy method of acquiring knowledge, by 
abridging scientific works. By this means he 
made himself master of the subject before him, 
whatever it was ; drew it into a small compass, 
and imprinted it on his memory. Twenty vol- 
umes upon logic, pneumatology, ethics, &c, 
swiftly run over, and without any endeavours 
thus to exhaust and fix them upon the mind, 
might not yield the twentieth part of real im- 
provement as would one volume thus perused, 
arranged, and treasured in the memory. It is 
no wonder, therefore, that the doctor recom- 
mends the like practice to others in such strong 
language. " Shall I be so free," says he, " as 
to assure my younger friends, from my own ex- 
perience, that these methods of reading will 
cost some pains in the first years of your study, 
and especially in the first authors you peruse in 
any science, or on any particular subject : but 
the profit will richly compensate the pains ; and 
in the following years of life, after you have 
read a few valuable books on any special sub- 
ject in this manner, it will be very easy to read 

* " Some brief Opinions collected from the Treatise of 
Lewis de la Forge, concerning the human Mind ; or rather, 
an Epitome of the Work." 



16 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

others of the same kind, because you will not 
find very much new matter in them which you 
have not already examined."* 

There was another method also which the 
doctor adopted, it may be in the time of his 
preparatory studies, though of this we are not 
able to furnish positive evidence, but of which 
there are the fullest proofs in his farther pro- 
gress in life ; namely, that of interleaving the 
works of authors, and inserting in the blank 
pages additions from other writers on the same 
subject. I have now by me, the gift of his bro- 
ther, Mr. Enoch Watts, the Westminster Greek 
Grammar thus interleaved by the doctor, with 
all that he thought proper to collect from Dr. 
Busby's and Mr. Leeds's Greek Grammars, in- 
grafted by him into the supplemental leaves ; 
and I have besides in my possession, a present 
from the doctor himself, a printed discourse by 
a considerable writer on a controverted point in 
divinity, interleaved in the same manner, and 
much enlarged by insertions in the doctor's own 
hand. 

Such were the happy, though laborious, me- 
thods this eminent man took to possess himself 
of knowledge. He was not contented with 
superficial glances and hasty surveys. He 
searched deep for the mines of wisdom, and 
spared no pains to discover them, and enrich 
himself with their treasures. 

* Improvement of the Mind, part 1, chap, iv., sec-, 7. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 17 



CHAPTER IL 

While lie was thus laborious in the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge, the doctor was not inattentive 
to poetic composition. He tells us that he had 
amused himself with Verse from fifteen years 
old to fifty ;* and during the time of his studies, 
or in a very short space after he had closed 
them, he wrote several poems, and no incon- 
siderable number of his lyric odes. The pieces 
which were composed by him at this period are 
the poem called " Light in Darkness ;" his 
verses to Mr. Josiah Hort, afterward archbishop 
of Tuam, in Ireland ; his ode entitled " Excita- 
tio Cordis ad Ccelum ;" his two epistles, the one 
to his brother Richard, and the other to his bro- 
ther Enoch ; and his ode addressed to our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ. The four last are 
written in Latin. 

The epistle to his brother, Mr. Enoch Watts, 
bears date September 30th, 1691, and may be 
translated as follows : — 

TO' MY BROTHER ENOCH WATTS, GOING A VOYAGE. 

Brother, may Heaven vouchsafe to bless. 
And crown your voyage with success ! 
Go, in the planks of pine immured, 
And from surrounding harms secured : 
Go, and with sails expanding wide, 
With pleasure plough the placid tide ; 
In safety wafted o'er the main, 
In safety wafted home again. 

* Miscellaneous Thoughts, No. 65. 
2 



18 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

O may no monster of the flood, 
That roams for prey, and thirsts for blood, 
Seize you to his tremendous power, 
And with remorseless jaws devour, 
While the bark, shiver'd by the blast, 
Strews with its wreck the watery waste ! 
My brother, trusted to thy care, 
Half of myself, vessel, bear 
Secure through ocean's wide domain, 
At best a desert, trackless plain ; 
And oft, when hurricanes arise, 
In billows thundering to the skies, 
Safe from the sand's devouring heap, 
May'st thou thy wary passage keep ; 
Safe too from each tremendous rock, 
Where ships are shatter d by the shock : 
May only favourable gales 
Attend thy course, and fill thy sails ; 
And may the zephyr's softest wing 
Thee to thy port serenely bring! 
Thou, who dost o'er the seas preside, 
Rouse them to rage, or smooth their tide,- 
Thou who dost in thy fetters keep 
The boisterous tyrants of the deep, 
To foreign climes secure convey 
My brother through the watery way, 
And back conduct him o'er the main 
To his dear shores and friends again ! 

The doctor's Latin ode addressed to himself 
may be thus translated : — 

THE EXCITATION OF THE HEART TOWARD 
HEAVEN. 
What ! shall whole ages wear away, 
And I a willing prisoner stay. 
Immured within these walls of clay ! 

The porch, the open door I see : 
Shall both conspire to set me free. 
And I start back from liberty ! 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 19 

Shall I not pant to ascend the road 
That leads to yon sublime abode, 
The palace of my Father, God 1 

From this vile flesh, what countless ills 
Arise ! Now fear my bosom chills, 
Now grief in trickling tears distils ; 

While sin, the worst of all my foes, 

Prevents or murders my repose, 

And snares of dark destruction strows. 

On this poor spot where canst thou find 
Pleasures of such exalted kind 
To fill the wishes of the mind 1 

Jesus, thy love, far, far from sight, 
'Midst stars^ and seraphs pure and bright, 
Dwells high enthroned in worlds of light. 

Thither shouldst thou attempt to go, 
Th* Almighty would no thunders throw, 
Nor would one cloud obscure his brow ; 

Himself invites thee to the skies : 
From sin and all its sorrows rise ; 
Wings of swift flame his love supplies. 

The ode " to our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ" may perhaps vie in the merit of its com- 
position with any of the lyric performances of 
the Greek and Latin writers. A most astonish- 
ing energy animates, I may truly say, every 
line, and evinces the uncommon poetic powers 
which the doctor possessed. It it thus render- 
ed into English : — 

Thee, Jesus, in whose person join 
The human nature and divine, 
Th' all-glorious Sire's all-glorious Son 
Ere worlds were form'd or time begun, 
Thee will I praise ; thy name adored 
Shall consocrate the tuneful chord : 



20 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

My tongue thy glories shall proclaim, 
And my pen propagate thy fame. 
Let strings of sounds divinely bold 
Be fitted to the vocal gold ; 
And thou, my harp, awake and tell 
The triumphs of ImmanueL 
How, in the thunder of his might, 
He put th' infernal hosts to flight. 
In fetters bound their vanquished king, 
Trampled on death, and crush'd his sting. 
Ages immense through heaven had roil'd 
Their ample rounds of radiant gold. 
While in the realms of endless day 
He in the Father's bosom lay, 
Of his unbounded love possessed, 
With joys immeasurable bless'd, 
Till from th* empyreal heights he saw 
Adam transgress his Maker's law, 
And hell expand its lake of fire 
T' ingulf the offspring with their sire ; 
Saw, too, th' avenging angel stand, 
Swords and keen lightnings in his hand, 
And arrows ranged in dire array 
Athirst for blood, and wing'd to slay ; 
Then heard from the abhorr'd profound 
The monsters of the pit resound 
Their joys, that man from God was driven/ 
And earth to hell's dominion given : 
Compassion not to be express'd, 
- Like a swift flame, pervades his breast ; 
To help, to save, almighty ire 
And love dimentionless conspire : — 
" Not the whole race of men shall be 
Plunged in eternal misery : 
What ! shall my Father's work divine, 
Where- his refulgent beauties shine, 
Perish by hellish fraud and spite ! 
Rather let all the stars of light 
Be from their glorious stations huiTd, 
And night and chaos whelm the world ; 
I'll enter Satan's dark domain 
And bind the felon in my chain, 



/ 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 21 

Or he shall chase me from the field, 

And I'll to him my sceptre yield. 

By my Sire's glories, and by mine, 

Alike immortal and divine, 

I swear." He said, and bows the skies. 

And to our world impatient flies. 

The Prince of heaven without delay 

Assumes an humble form of clay ; 

Though scant the room, and poor th' abode. 

Yet honour'd to admit the God ! 

Thus he displays his wondrous grace, 

Thus he redeems our ruin'd race, 

Vengeance' full quiver he receives, 

And for our own his life he gives. 

O the distress ! th' effects how dire 

Of the offended Thunderer's ire ! 

Edict severe ! what punishment 

For Adam's one transgression sent ! 

He tastes the interdicted tree, 

And death sweeps o'er his progeny. 

But check, my muse, thy plaintive lay ; 

Whither do thy wild pinions stray 1 

Suppress these sighs, these groans restrain : 

What ! shall a flood of tears profane 

The triumphs of Immanuel's tomb I 

Rather a joyful strain assume, 

And in thy noblest numbers tell 

How he descended into hell, 

And enter'd the tremendous cells 

Where death in night and horror dwells ; 

The dreary seats his presence own'd, 

And to their inmost caverns groan'd, 

Chaos through all his empire shook, 

Th' alarm th' infernal tyrant took, 

And, roaring loud in wild affright, 

Ran, fled through all the realms of night, 

In hope to hide his guilty head, 

When thus the Lord of glory said : 

" Monster, cursed cause of sin and wo, 

In vain thou triest to shun my blow : 

This bolt shall find, shall pierce thee through, 

Though, to conceal thee from my view, 



22 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Thou under hell's profoundest wave 
Should' st dive to seek a sheltering grave." 
He spoke, and with unerring aim 
Full on the foe he flung the flame 
His Father gave :' through all the coasts 
Hell trembled, trembled all the ghosts, 
Who well ethereal fires might dread 
Ere since before their force they fled 
From the celestial light and bliss 
Down to the bottomless abyss. 
Now from the deep loud thunders sound 
Scattering immense destruction round, 
Tear up the dungeons from their base 
Prepared t' immure the chosen race. 
Here in a thousand fragments lie 
Engines of hellish tyrrany, 
Fetters, wheels, racks asunder burst, 
And every cruelty accursed ; 
While death in lamentable groans 
The plunder of his darts bemoans. 
But see the God, with conquest crown'd, 
Returning from the dark profound ; 
See up heaven's hills the triumph roll'd ; 
See to his wheels of burning gold 
Proud Satan chain'd, and with a throng 
Of hell's grim monsters dragg'd along. 
What shouts of joy from angels rise. 
While he ascends his native skies ! 
What pleasure in the victor glow'd. 
While through the gates of bliss he rode ! 
His praises, ye seraphic choirs, 
Resound, and sweep your golden lyres, 
His praises to all human tongues 
Resound, and tune the noblest songs, 
While the glad stars, that round the pole 
'Twixt heaven and earth incessant roll, 
Seize from both worlds the tuneful sound, 
And waft th' immortal echoes round. 

It may be some entertainment to the reader 
to be informed who were the doctor's fellow- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 23 

students, and were honoured with his esteem 
and friendship. I shall mention three of the 
number, — Mr. Josiah Hort, Mr. John Hughes, 
and Mr. Samuel Say. Mr. Hort was his ac- 
quaintance and fellow-pupil, and was pronounced 
by the doctor " the first genius in the academy." 
This gentleman, after having been educated at 
a dissenting academy, and probably descended 
from dissenting parents, entered into the esta- 
blished church, and subsequently became arch- 
bishop of Tuam. 

Mr. John Hughes was also the doctor's friend 
and 'fellow-student. This gentleman was born 
at Marlborough, in Wiltshire, January 9th, 1677, 
but was educated at London, receiving the first 
rudiments of his learning in private schools, and 
afterward becoming a pupil of Mr. Rowe ; for 
the doctor says in a letter to Mr. Duncombe, 
that they " were fellow-students together in 
logic and philosophy." The doctor informed 
me that Mr. Hughes, by his own confession, so 
entirely devoted himself to poetry, that he gave 
little or no attention while he was at the acade- 
my to any thing besides ; and that the doctor, in 
consequence, advised him to decline the minis- 
try. Accordingly it does not appear that Mr. 
Hughes even so much as preached once in 
public ; and it is very certain that he became a 
votary, and indeed an eminent favourite, of the 
muses.* What sentiments Dr. Watts entertain- 
ed concerning his poems will appear from a 

* See his " Poems on several Occasions, with some se- 
lect Essays in Prose," in two volumes. 



24 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

letter of his to Mr. Duncombe, dated May 23d, 
1735. " Your letter," says he, " and the present 
of Mr. Hughes' works, were joyfully received 
by me the next day after I saw you. Methinks 
I see the very man, my old acquaintance, there 
with his temper and softness, his wit and spright- 
ly genius, spreading almost over every page, 
But my sorrow freshens and renews upon my 
heart, that such a genius did not live to write 
more moral and divine odes in advanced years, 
to be a counterpoise to all the charms of plea- 
sure, and youth, and beauty which his younger 
poesy indulged. Yet, it must be confessed, I 
can find nothing which is an ofTence to virtue 
and piety, so far as I have perused, and I have 
read more than half. The Christian scheme 
has glories and beauties in it, which have supe- 
rior power to touch the soul beyond all the gods 
and heroes of the heathen heaven or elysium. 
I should have been much pleased to see such a 
pen employing its art on such themes. Mr. 
Pope's Messiah always charms me. I speak 
not now of Mr. Hughes' odes on the ' Creator 
of the World,' the ' Ecstasy,' &c, because I 
have read them long ago. These have so much 
dignity in them that I wished for more of the 
same kind." 

As Mr. Hughes shone as a poet, so he had 
also a fine pen for prose ; and had some share 
in the " Guardian," a greater in the " Tatler," 
and more abundantly contributed to the " Spec- 
tator." 

Mr. Samuel Say was another acquaintance 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 25 

and fellow-student with Dr. Watts. He was 
bom about 1675, and was the second son of 
Mr. Giles Say, minister of St. Michael's parish, 
Southampton, but ejected thence by the Act of 
Uniformity in 1662. Mr. Say, the son, disco- 
vered, when he was but young, a strong inclina- 
tion to the ministry. His father accordingly 
took care to have him educated in the best 
manner he could for this purpose from his ear- 
liest years ; and about 1692 he entered as a 
pupil in Mr. Rowe's academy. After exercis- 
ing his ministry at various places in the country, 
he was finally called to succeed Dr. Edmund 
Calamy, in the pastorship of the church of pro- 
testant dissenters in Westminster. He removed 
thither in 1734, and continued till April 12th, 
1743, when he left our world, after a week's 
illness, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 

Dr. Hughes, in his funeral sermon on Mr. 
Say, draws a very lovely character of him as a 
minister ; and the editor* of his poems and 
other compositions, published a year or two after 
his death, pays him the following honours : — 
" He had great candour and good breeding, 
without stiffness or formality ; an open counte- 
nance, and a temper always communicative. 
He was a tender husband, an indulgent father, 
and of a most benevolent disposition ; ever ready 
to do good, and to relieve the wants of the dis- 
tressed, to the utmost extent of his abilities. 
He was well versed in astronomy and natural 
philosophy, had a taste for music and poetry, 
* William Duucombe, Esq. 



26 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

and was a good critic, and master of the clas- 
sics." Mr. Say's poems are not destitute of 
merit ; but the two essays in prose, published 
with them, the first on the harmony, variety, and 
power of numbers in general, and the other on 
those of " Milton's Paradise Lost," in particular, 
" have been much admired," says the Rev. John 
Duncombe, " by persons of taste and judgment." 
Readers of those essays will learn what beau- 
ties arise from numbers, and how much they 
contribute to fine composition, and be convinced 
that Milton's happy management of his pauses, 
and his infusion of spondees, trochees, and dac- 
tyls, with the iambics of an English verse, as 
his subjects and descriptions required, are 
among the distinguishing excellences of his 
poem. This discovery, I believe I may truly 
affirm, was first made by Mr. Say; and he there- 
fore is alone entitled to the honour of it, though 
others have since availed themselves of it with- 
out acknowledging to whom they were indebted. 
It may be farther added, in the words of the 
editor of Mr. Say's works, " that these essays 
were drawn up at the request of Mr. Richard- 
son the painter, who was pleased with Mr. Say's 
uncommon way of thinking." 



CHAPTER III. 

After the doctor had finished his academical 
studies, at the age only of twenty years, he re- 
turned to his fathers house at Southampton, 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 27 

where lie spent two years in reading, medita- 
tion, and prayer ; — in reading, to possess himself 
of ampler knowledge ; in meditation, by which 
he might take a full survey of useful and sacred 
subjects, and make what he had acquired by 
reading his own ; and prayer, to engage the 
divine influencea to prepare him for that work 
to which he was determined to devote his life, 
and of the importance of which he had a deep 
sense upon his spirit. 

Having thus employed two years at his fa- 
ther's, he was invited by Sir John Hartopp, 
Baronet, to reside in his family at Stoke-New- 
ington, near London, as tutor to his son, where 
he continued five years, and by his behaviour 
procured himself such esteem and respect as 
laid the foundation of that friendship which sub- 
sisted between him and his pupil to the day of 
his death. 

Among the doctor's works are two discourses, 
one entitled the " Last Enemy Conquered," a 
funeral sermon on the death of Lady Hartopp, 
daughter of Charles Fleetwood, Esq., and wife 
of Sir John Hartopp, who died November 9th, 
1711 ; and the other entitled, " The Happiness 
of separate Spirits made Perfect," a funeral 
sermon on Sir John Hartopp himself, who died 
April 1st, 1722, aged eighty-five. As the doc- 
tor had no less than five years' residence in Sir 
John's family, for the purpose of educating his 
son, it may not be improper to give some ac- 
count concerning him, especially as the doctor's 
own faithful as well as ingenious pencil has 



28 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

drawn his character. " When I name Sir John 
Hartopp," says he, toward the close of his dis- 
course, " all that knew him will agree that I 
name a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian. 
He shone with eminence among persons of 
birth and title on earth ; while his obliging de- 
portment and affable temper rendered him easy 
of access to all his inferiors, and made him the 
delight of all his friends. Though he knew 
what was due to his quality in this world, yet 
he affected none of the grandeurs of this life, 
but daily practised condescension and love, and 
secured the respect of all without assuming a 
superior air, He had a taste for universal 
learning ; and ingenious arts were his delight 
from his youth. He pursued knowledge in 
various forms, and was acquainted with many 
parts of human science. Mathematical specu- 
lations and practices were a favourite study 
with him in younger years ; and even to his old 
age he maintained his acquaintance with the 
heavenly bodies, and light and shade, whereby 
time is measured. But the book of God was 
his chief study, and his divinest delight. His 
Bible lay before him night and day, and he was 
well acquainted with the writers who explained 
it best. He was desirous of seeing what the 
Spirit of God said to men in the original lan- 
guages ; for this end he commenced some ac- 
quaintance with the Hebrew when he was more 
than fifty years old ; and, that he might be capa- 
ble of judging of any text in the New Testament, 
he kept his youthful knowledge of the Greek 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 29 

language, in some measure, to the period of 
life. Among the various themes of Christian 
contemplation, he took peculiar pleasure in the 
doctrines of grace, in the display of the glories 
of the person of Christ, God in our nature, and 
the wondrous work of redemption by his cross. 
He adored him as his Lord and his God ; and, 
while he trusted in his righteousness as the 
great Mediator, and beheld him as his crucified 
Saviour, he was ever zealous to maintain the 
honours due to his divine nature and majesty. 
His practice in life was agreeable to his Chris- 
tian principles ; for he knew that the grace of 
God, which brings salvation to men, teaches 
them to deny all nngodliness, and to live sober, 
righteous, and religious lives, that in all things 
they may adorn the doctrine of God their Sa- 
viour. His conversation was pious and learned, 
ingenious and instructive. He was inquisitive 
into the affairs of the learned world, the pro- 
gress of arts and sciences, the concerns of the 
nation, and the interests of the church of Christ ; 
and, upon all occasions, was as ready to com- 
municate as he was to inquire. What he knew 
of the things of God or man, he resolved not to 
know them only for himself, but for the benefit 
of all who had the honour of his acquaintance. 
There are many of his friends who will join 
with me to confess how often we have departed 
from his company refreshed and advanced in 
useful knowledge ; and I cannot but reckon it 
among the blessings of heaven when I review 
those five years of pleasure and improvement 



30 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

which I spent in his family in my younger part 
of life, and I found much instruction myself 
where I was called to be an instructed His 
zeal for the welfare of his country, and of the 
church of Christ in it, carried him out to the 
most extensive and toilsome services in his 
younger and middle age. He employed his 
time, his spirits, his interest, and his riches for 
the defence of this poor nation, when forty 
years ago it was in the utmost danger of popery 
and ruin. His doors were ever open, and his 
carriage always friendly and courteous, to the 
ministers of the Gospel, though they were dis- 
tinguished among themselves by names of differ- 
ent parties ; for he loved all who loved Jesus 
Christ in sincerity. He chose, indeed, to bear 
a part in constant public worship with the pro- 
testant dissenters ; for he thought their practices 
more agreeable to the rules of the gospel. He 
joined himself in communion with one of their 
churches, which was under the pastoral care 
of the Rev. Dr. John Owen, where he continu- 
ed an honourable member, under successive 
pastors, to the day of his death. Nor was he 
ashamed to own and support that despised inte- 
rest, nor to frequent those assemblies, when the 
spirit of persecution raged highest in the days 
of King Charles, and King James the Second. 
He was a present refuge for the oppressed, and 
the special providence of God secured him and 
his friends from the fury of the oppressor. 
He was always a devout and diligent attender 
on public ordinances till the last years of his 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 31 

life, when the infirmities of age coming upon 
him, confined him to his private retirements. 
But if age confined him, death gave him a re- 
lease. He is exalted now to the church in 
heaven, and has taken his place in that glorious 
assembly, where he worships among them be- 
fore the throne. There he has no need to 
relieve his memory by the swiftness of his pen, 
which w r as his perpetual practice in the church 
on earth, and by which means he often enter- 
tained his family in the evening worship, on 
the Lord's day, with excellent discourses, some 
of which he copied from the lips of some of the 
greatest preachers of the last age. There his 
unbodied spirit is able to sustain the sublimest 
raptures of devotion which run through the 
worshippers in that heavenly state, though here 
on earth I have seen the pious pleasure too 
strong for him ; and, while he has been reading 
the things of God to his household, the devo- 
tion of his heart has broken through his eyes, 
has interrupted his voice, and commanded a 
sacred pause and silence." 

Such was that excellent man in whose family 
the doctor resided for the instruction of his son, 
the late Sir John Hartopp, a gentleman of abili- 
ties and learning which might have adorned a 
public sphere, but he preferred a private life all 
his days. He esteemed and honoured his worthy 
preceptor while living, and showed his regard 
for his memory after his decease. He died at 
Bath, January"! 3th, 1762. 

While the doctor assisted Mr. Hartopp's stu- 



32 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

dies, he did not neglect his own ; for not only 
did he make farther improvement in those parts 
of learning in which he instructed the young 
gentleman, but he applied himself to reading the 
Scriptures in the original tongues, and the best 
commentators, critical and practical. 

The doctor began to preach on his birth-day, 
1698, at twenty-four years of age ; and was the 
same year chosen assistant to Dr. Isaac Chaun- 
cy, pastor of the church then meeting at Mark- 
lane, London. But his public labours, which met 
with general acceptance, were interrupted by a 
threatening illness of five months, which was 
thought to have arisen from the fervour of his 
zeal in preaching the gospel of his Lord and 
Saviour. His sickness did not discourage him 
from renewing his delightful work, as soon as 
Providence was pleased to restore him to 
health. A good soldier of Jesus Christ, when 
he receives a wound in the field, will not be 
disheartened, but cheerfully return to his arms 
and duty as soon as he is capable of attempting 
any farther service in the cause of his divine 
Master. 

In January, 1701-2, the doctor received a 
call from the church to succeed Dr. Chauncy 
in the pastoral office, which he accepted the 
very day on which King William died, March 
8th, 1701-2, notwithstanding the discouraging 
prospect which that event gave to non-conform- 
ist ministers, and the fears with which it filled 
the hearts of dissenters in general. But he had 
set his hand to the plough, and would not look 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS. D. D. 33 

back; and accordingly he was solmenly or- 
dained to the pastoral office on March 18th 
following. 

The Rev. Dr. Savage, successor to Dr. Watts 
in the pastorship of the church, has favoured me 
with the records of its transactions, in which I 
find a letter of recommendation of Dr. Watts 
from the Rev. Thomas Rowe's church, which 
runs as follows : — 

"To the Church of Christ, of which the Rev. 
Dr. Chauncy was lately pastor. 

"Forasmuch as our dear brother Mr. Isaac 
Watts, who was with great satisfaction admit- 
ted a member among us, and hath since walked 
as becomes the gospel, to the glory of God, and 
to the honour of his holy profession, doth now 
desire his dismission from us, we do, in com- 
pliance therewith, discharge him from his mem- 
bership among us in order to his being received 
by you, praying that his ministerial labours, and 
those gifts and graces wherewith the Lord Jesus 
Christ, the great Head of the church, hath been 
pleased so richly to furnish him, may be abun- 
dantly blessed to the conversion of souls, and 
your edification, to whose grace and blessing 
we do from our hearts commend both him and 
you. 

" Subscribed with the consent of the church by 
"Thomas Rowe, pastor. 
"Nathaniel PeacocKc 
" John Antrim. 
"Feb. 26th, 1701-2." 
3 



34 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

How honourable and affectionate is this tes- 
timonial to the doctor's character, after eight 
years' continuance with Mr. Rowe's church ! 

It appears from the said records that Dr. 
Watts, on the day on which he was ordained 
to the pastoral office, declared publicly and 
solemnly his acceptance of the choice the 
church had made of him to that service in the 
following words : — 

" Brethren, — You know what a constant 
aversion I have had to any proposals of a pas- 
toral office for these three years, even since the 
providence of God called me first among you. 
You know, also, that since you have given me 
a unanimous and solemn call thereto, I have 
heartily proposed several methods for your set- 
tlement without me ; but your choice and your 
affections seemed still to be settled and un- 
moved. I have objected warmly and often my 
own indispositions of body, which incapacitate 
me for much sendee ; and I have pointed often 
to three reverend divines that are members of 
this church, whose gifts might render them more 
proper for instruction, and whose age for go- 
vernment. These things I have urged till I 
have provoked you to sorrow and tears., and till 
I myself have been almost ashamed. But your 
perseverance in your choice and love, your 
constant profession of edification by my minis- 
try, the great probability you show me of build- 
ing up this famous and decayed church of 
Christ if I accept the call, and your prevailing 
fears of its dissolution if I refuse, have given 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 35 

me ground to believe that the voice of this 
church is the voice of Christ by you ; and to 
answer this call, I have not consulted with flesh 
and blood ; I have laid aside the thoughts of 
myself, to serve the interest of our Lord. I 
give up my own ease for your spiritual profit 
and your increase. I submit my inclinations 
to my duty ; and, in hopes of being made an 
instrument in the hands of Christ to build up 
this ancient church, I return this solemn answer 
to your call, that, with a great sense of my ina- 
bility in mind and body to discharge the duties 
of so sacred an office, I do, in the strength of 
Christ, venture upon it, and in the name of our 
Lord Jesus I accept your call, promising in the 
presence of God and his saints, my utmost 
diligence in all the duties of a pastor so far as 
God shall enlighten and strengthen me ; and I 
leave this promise in the hands of Christ our 
Mediator, to see it performed by me unto you 
through the assistance of his grace and Spirit." 

What devotion, humility, and tender regard to 
the good of souls run through this address ; and 
how well, as will hereafter be shown, did he 
afterward fulfil his ministry, according to his 
sacred engagements ! 

But the joy of the church in their happy set- 
tlement in so able and excellent a pastor was 
quickly after sadly damped by his being seized 
with a painful and alarming illness, which laid 
him aside for some time, and from which he 
recovered but by slow degrees. The church 
saw it needful to provide him with a stated 



36 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

assistant; and accordingly the Rev. Samuel 
Price was chosen to that service in July, 1703. 
Although the doctor's public labours were by 
these means considerably relieved, yet his 
health remained fluctuating for some years. As 
it increased he renewed his diligence in the 
discharge of his ministry ; and his people were 
delighted and edified with his sermons from the 
pulpit, and his conversations with them in the 
visits which he made to their families. He 
went on without any considerable interruption 
in his work, and with great success and pros- 
perity to the church, till the year 1712, when, 
in September, he was seized with a violent 
fever, which shook his constitution, and left 
such weakness upon his nerves as continued 
with him in some degree to his dying day. 
Upon this occasion " prayer was made without 
ceasing of the church unto God for him." Seve- 
ral days of supplication were kept on his ac- 
count, in which many of his brethren in the 
ministry assisted, and wrestled earnestly with 
the Lord for the continuance of so promising an 
instrument of his glory. He was graciously 
pleased to answer their importunate requests 
by adding to his life more than thirty-six years ; 
most of them, indeed, years of feeble health, 
but of eminent usefulness to the church and 
world. Not till October, 1716, (more than four 
years, a long and painful chasm as to the exer- 
cise of his ministry both to his people and him- 
self,) was the doctor able to return to his public 
services. In the meantime his assistant, Mr. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 37 

Price, was, at his desire, and upon his recom- 
mendation, chosen by the church to be copastor 
with him ; to which office he was ordained 
March 3d, 1713. 

Though this long interval of sickness was on 
some accounts a very distressing season, yet a 
kind Providence made it the happiest era of the 
doctor's life, as it was the occasion of introduc- 
ing him into the family of Sir Thomas Abney, 
knight, and alderman of London, who, on prin- 
ciples of the most generous compassion and 
friendship, took him in a very languishing state 
of health to his own house, where he was most 
liberally supplied with all that could contribute 
to his convenience and satisfaction to the end 
of his days ; for, though this eminent friend of 
his country and of the church of God, and par- 
ticularly of the doctor, died in the year 1722, 
the like benevolent spirit which he had disco- 
vered was continued by his worthy lady, and 
their daughters. Her ladyship survived the 
doctor above a year. Of their kind and honour- 
able regards to him I will say nothing, except 
that I myself was a frequent witness of them in 
the many visits which at different times I made 
to that most respectable, virtuous, and happy 
family. 

Sir Thomas Abney was one of the younger 
sons of James Abney, Esq., of Wilsley, in the 
county of Derby. He was born in January, 
1639, and was the religious son of worthy and 
pious parents. His mother dying when he was 
young, and in the times of public confusion, by 



38 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

which the family were no small sufferers, his 
father placed him at school at Loughborough 
in the county of Leicester, that he might be 
under the eye and care of his aunt, the honour- 
able and virtuous Lady Bromley. Her pious 
instructions, it is believed, made early impres- 
sions upon him, and were the happy means of 
a sober and religious turn of mind, which con- 
tinued through the whole of his life. Thus 
under the influence of divine grace he was 
fortified against temptations in his apprentice- 
ship ; especially as he took all opportunities 
of attending the most judicious and practical 
preachers, under whom he became the more 
confirmed in those good principles which his 
pious aunt had instilled into him. His charac- 
ter was in all respects commendable, not only 
clear from the vices of the age, but very exem- 
plary and eminent. His piety and serious re- 
gard to religion were conspicuous. He feared 
God from his youth, and showed the truth and 
power of that divine principle which guided, 
animated, and influenced him in all his actions. 
The duties of the second table, in which he 
was careful and exact, were all performed in 
virtue and pursuance of the duties of the first. 
The fear and love of God, and the desire of pleas- 
ing and honouring him, were the spring and very 
life and soul of every action, consecrating, as it 
were, his whole life, and making all that he did an 
honour and worship to his God. To his piety 
were joined probity and justice. He was sin- 
cere in his words and promises, and faithful in 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 39 

his engagements and trusts, never giving in to 
any ways of fraud, deceit, or collusion. He 
sought no gain but with a good conscience ; 
and God crowned and blessed his righteous 
conduct with considerable increase. He was 
of a meek and quiet spirit, affable and cour- 
teous, temperate in meats and drinks, and the 
pleasures of life. He was very charitable both 
in his judging and speaking of others, and in 
ministering to the necessities of such as were 
in want. He was of a catholic spirit, extending 
his love and regard to persons of all parties 
bearing the Christian name, however divided in 
lesser matters. He was compassionate and 
tender-hearted, readily sympathizing with his 
friends in their sorrows, and full of pity to- 
ward objects of misery. He was an affection- 
ate and tender husband, a loving and prudent 
father, and watchful over the good and happi- 
ness of his children ; a just and kind master ; 
and for holy order and government, and the 
exercises of religion, his house might be con- 
sidered as a church of God. Here were every 
day the morning and evening sacrifices of 
prayer and praise, and reading the holy Scrip- 
tures, many times with proper helps to under- 
stand and profit by them. The Lord's day he 
strictly observed and sanctified. God was 
solemnly sought and worshipped both before 
and after the family's attendance on public ordi- 
nances. The repetition of sermons, the reading 
good books, the instruction of the household, 
and the singing the divine praises together, 



40 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

were much of the sacred employment of the 
holy day ; variety and brevity making the whole 
not burdensome but pleasant, leaving at the 
same time room for the devotions of the closet, 
as well as for intervening works of necessity 
and mercy. Persons coming into such a family 
with a serious turn of mind might well cry out, 
" This is no other than the house of God ; this 
is the gate of heaven !" Beside the ordinary 
and stated services of religion, occasional calls 
and seasons for worship were also much re- 
garded. In signal family mercies and afflic- 
tions, in going journeys, in undertaking and 
accomplishing any matters of greater moment, 
God was especially owned by prayer and 
thanksgiving ; the assistance of ministers being 
often called in upon such occasions. Through 
the whole course of his life he was priest in 
his own family, excepting when a minister 
happened to be present, or any such sojourned 
with him. Sir Thomas's constant practice was 
to lead his household in the acts of worship, 
and to offer up their addresses to God, which 
he performed with great seriousness and warmth 
of affection. The word of God being read 
constantly as a preface to prayer in his family, 
he chose to do that also himself, unless for a 
few of the last years of life, in which he 
thought fit to put the performance of that part 
of religious duty upon his children. As to the 
sermons that were read in the evening of the 
Lord's day, he took that service upon himself, 
and held on in that course to his last sickness 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 4 1 

and death ; and those who resided in his house 
were witnesses with what affection he went 
through that work, and how often he hath been 
melted into tears, so that he could scarce pro- 
ceed without a pause. It may be farther re- 
marked concerning this excellent man, that 
when he has just come from the necessary 
business and affairs of his station, it was still 
with such a composure of spirit that he was 
ever in a frame for the exercises of religion, 
and gave reason thence to conclude that he 
walked with God all the day long. 

As a most demonstrative and striking proof 
of Sir Thomas's constant regard to God, and 
the duties he owed him, Lady Abney informed 
me, that he kept up regular prayer in his family 
during all his mayoralty ; and that, upon the 
evening of the day he entered on his office, he 
without any notice withdrew from the public 
assembly at Guildhall after supper, went to his 
house, there performed family worship, and then 
returned to the company. 

In 1693 he was elected sheriff of London 
and Middlesex ; which trust he so honourably 
and faithfully executed, that before his year 
expired he was chosen alderman, and received 
the honour of knighthood from King William. 
In 1700 he was chosen lord mayor some years 
before his turn. In this year his hearty zeal 
for the Protestant interest exerted itself hi an 
uncommon degree. He had the courage at that 
juncture to propose an address from the com- 
mon council to the king, though he w T as much 



42 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

opposed in it by the majority of his brethren 
of the bench. The design and purport of the 
address was to signify their resolution to stand 
by his majesty, in opposition to France and the 
pretender, whom the French monarch had 
lately caused to be proclaimed king of Great 
Britain. Sir Thomas surmounted all the ob- 
structions which the adversaries of this affair 
threw in his way ; and he carried his point 
with remarkable success. This address was 
transmitted to King William, then beyond the 
seas, forming, guiding, and uniting the counsels 
of the protestant world, and by his power and 
interest rescuing and sustaining the liberties of 
Europe. When this noble resolution of the city 
of London was publicly known, it animated the 
affairs of the king, and gave new life to his 
interest both abroad and at home. A consider- 
able person then living complimented Sir Tho- 
mas Abney on this occasion, assuring him, that 
he had done more service to the king, than if 
he had raised him a million of money. This 
leading example of London, under the conduct 
of the chief magistrate, greatly inspirited the 
whole nation, and was followed by addresses 
of the like nature from most of the corporations. 
Upon which the king dissolved the parliament, 
and resolved to have the sense of his people in 
their choice of a new one, as he told them in 
that last admirable speech of his, December 31st, 
1701. Sir Thomas was chosen by the citizens 
of London a member of this parliament, to the 
calling of which his conduct in the mayoralty 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 43 

doubtless had much influence. This parliament 
happily attained the ends which this excellent 
prince had in view ; for they quickly formed an 
act for the abjuration of the pretender, and the 
further establishment of the protestant succes- 
sion to the throne. This law received the royal 
assent only the day before the king died ; and 
he left it as his best legacy for the nation. By 
this means the crown was secured to the house 
of Brunswick ; for, though it was declared by 
the preceding parliament to belong to that 
family, yet, in the apprehension of wise and 
thoughtful men, the descent of it in the appoint- 
ed line was too precarious till it was guarded 
and secured by a subsequent law against all 
opposers. So much was the succession of the 
house of Hanover to these kingdoms obliged to 
the zeal and labours of a protestant dissenter ! 
Lady Abney was the daughter of John Gun- 
ston, Esq., of Stoke-Newington, and was mar- 
ried to Sir Thomas in 1700. Her character is 
well delineated, in its shining excellences, in 
a sermon upon her death by her pastor, the 
Rev. Samuel Price ; and, indeed, her grace 
and virtues, as I can attest from my acquaint- 
ance with her, shone in an uncommon union 
and lustre, which I endeavoured to describe in 
an ode that I published, not long after her de- 
cease. If any persons, judging from the general 
appearance of religion in the present day, 
should imagine, upon viewing the picture I 
drew of her ladyship, that I was too lavish of 
my colours ; I am well satisfied, had they 



44 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

known the original, they would confess I had 
only done justice to it. The ode is as follows : — 

TO THE MEMORY OF THAT AMIABLE MIRROR OF 
CHRISTIAN GRACE AND VIRTUE, 

DAME MARY ABNEY, 

Who departed this life January 12th, 1749-50. 

The muse, who on her sacred strings 
Virtue's immortal honours sings, 
Thus warbling to the vernal shade, 
The female character assay'd : — 

"Let wisdom's majesty serene 
And dove-like gentleness be seen 
On woman's brows, and mingling there 
At once excite our love and fear. 
Instead of vanity's array 
T' outvie the lustres of the day, 
Decent and modest be her dress, 
Su(ih as may suitably express 
How she the inward gem can prize 
Beyond the casket where it lies. 
Let undissembled piety 
With Heaven's unerring rules agree ; 
Is ot like the popish faith, which teems 
With monstrous tales, and idle dreams ; 
Nor framed from pagan schemes, that shun 
The stream where peace and pardon run. 
Let every truth the Scriptures show 
Upon her heart divinely glow, 
And shed its undiminish'd rays 
O'er all the tenor of her days, 
As shine unquench'd the orbs on high, 
While meteors mount, and blaze, and die. 
Is she a wife I Let winning love, 
Obedience, and discretion prove 
How well she dignifies the name 
With nuptial care, and nuptial flame. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D, 45 

Is she a mother 1 Let her skill 

And assiduity fulfil 

A mother's arduous task, and guide 

Her children blooming at her side 

Along religion's blissful ways, 

And teach the pleasure and the praise. 

Be it her labour to destroy 

Each weed that might her plants annoy, 

To bend the branches as they shoot, 

And nurse young virtue's bud to fruit. 

Should riches to her charge be given, 

Let her improve the boon for heaven ; 

The bounds of wealth let her survey, 

And in the scales of wisdom weigh 

What portion justice may demand, 

And what may crown her generous hand, 

Then ope her charitable door, 

And deal her bounties to the poor ; 

While plenty round her house is shown 

Alike to want or waste unknown, 

Plenty which temperance' hand restrains, 

And guided by discretion's reins. 

Upon the Sabbath's glad return 

Religion's radiant lamp should burn 

With double lustre through the day 

Without cessation or decay. 

Be regular attendance given 

At God's own house, the port of heaven, 

Nor let the remnant hours complain 

That they have pour'd their sands in vain. 

Nor let religion veil its light 

When heaven's high day has wing'd its flight, 

But as the morn and evening run 

Perpetual circles with the sun, 

Let pure devotion's flames ascend, 

While her whole family attend, 

And join in supplicating cries, 

And grateful honours to the skies, 

Let courtesy with heart sincere 

In all her life to 'all appear : 

But let her fav'rite friends be few, 

And, like herself, to virtue true. 



46 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Let ever-wakeful prudence guide 
Her bark o'er life's uncertain tide, 
Cautious of flattery's siren breath, 
Which lulls the listening soul to death, 
And slander which, like iEtna, pour3 
Tumultuous storm and burning showers. 
But let her be divinely bold, 
Duty's obstructed path to hold, 
"When tempests beat, and thunders roll, 
And hideous night involves the pole : 
Pursuing thus her glorious way 
At length the shores of heavenly day 
Shall shine, and with the vision blest, 
Her soul of holy calm possest, 
Shall make the port of endless rest." 

Thus sung the muse. Fair truth was by, 
Crown'd with the radiance of the sky, 
And swift replied :' "And dares thy verse 
Abney's high character rehearse 1 
Her name, superior to thy praise, 
Deserves the songs which angels raise." 



CHAPTER IV. 

Though the doctor's life from the time of 
closing his studies affords but little variety, and 
admits only of a short narration, as it flowed along 
in an even tenor, one year, one month, one 
week, one day, being in a manner a repetition 
of the former ; yet several observations may 
be made upon the events, few as they may be, 
which may prove not unentertaining oruninstruc- 
tive. My first observation shall be upon the doc- 
tor's very favourable opportunities for improve- 
ment in the interval between his leaving the 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 47 

academy, and his entrance upon the work of 
the ministry ; which might much contribute to 
that eminent figure he afterward made as a 
divine and an author. He retired for two years 
to his father's, for the noble purpose of reading, 
meditation, and prayer. He was in the house 
of one who undoubtedly loved him with a most 
tender affection, who had it in his power to 
grant him, and whose paternal kindness could 
not refuse, every thing that could tend to make 
him comfortable, and promote and forward his 
laudable designs. He was in the house of a 
man of eminent piety, who would not fail to 
cherish the divine life which, to his unspeakable 
joy, he observed in his son. What large draughts 
of knowledge then must the doctor, considering 
his early and inextinguishable thirst for improve- 
ment, necessarily imbibe by a daily course of 
reading, contemplation, and prayer ; and all this 
without any interruption amidst the enjoyment 
of a father's wise and pious counsels and con- 
versation, and the edifying and animating effi- 
cacy of his holy example ! 

From his father's roof he removed into the 
family of Sir John Hartopp, and there continued 
five years as a preceptor to his son. Here he 
enjoyed the advantage of an intimacy with a 
gentleman of great abilities, and extraordinary 
piety, which the doctor well knew both how 
to value and improve. Here he had also the 
opportunity of conversing with persons of real 
worth, and taking a large survey of the varieties 
of mankind from the numerous company that at 



48 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

one time, and on one occasion or other, resided 
in Sir John's family, or made their visits to him. 
Here he was more firmly securing to himself 
those rich treasures of learning of which he 
was already possessed, but which became more 
fully his own by communicating them to his 
pupil. Here he made vast additions to the 
knowledge he had obtained, and entered deep 
into those parts of science with which he might 
be but imperfectly acquainted before ; and all 
this to discharge in its full extent of advantage 
his work as a tutor, while at the same time he 
kept in view his preparation for the ministry, 
and cultivated those* studies which had a more 
direct and immediate concern with that sacred 
office to which he had determined to devote 
his days. 

Such were the favourable opportunities which 
the doctor enjoyed for his improvement for 
several years after he had completed his acade- 
mical course ; and providence seemed kindly 
resolved that nothing should be wanting, as to a 
happy concurrence of situation and residence, 
to open the way to his future course of useful- 
ness to the church and the world. 

Our next observation shall be made upon that 
remarkably kind providence which brought the 
doctor into Sir Thomas Abney's family, and 
continued him there till his death, a period of 
no less than thirty-six years. In the midst of 
his sacred labours for the glory of God, and the 
good of his generation, he is seized with a most 
violent and threatening fever, which leaves him 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 49 

oppressed with great weakness, and puts a stop 
at least to his public services for four years. 
In this distressing season, doubly so to his ac- 
tive and pious spirit, he is invited to Sir Tho- 
mas Abney's family, nor ever removes from it 
till he had finished his days. Here he enjoyed 
the uninterrupted demonstrations of the truest 
friendship. Here, without any care of his own, 
he had every thing which could contribute to 
the enjoyment of life, and favour the unwearied 
pursuit of his studies. Here he dwelt in a fa- 
mily which, for piety, order, harmony, and every 
virtue, was a house of God. Here he had the 
privilege of a country recess, the pure air, the 
retired grove, the fragrant bower, the spreading 
lawn, the flowery garden, and other advantages 
to soothe his mind, and aid his restoration to 
health, to yield him, whenever he chose them, 
most grateful intervals from his laborious studies, 
and enable him to return to them with redou- 
bled vigour and delight. Had it not been for 
this most happy event, he might, as to outward 
view, have feebly, it may be painfully, dragged 
on through many more years of languor, and 
inability for public service, and even for profit- 
able study ; or, perhaps, might have sunk into 
his grave under the overwhelming load of in- 
firmities in the midst of his days, and thus the 
church and world would have been deprived 
of those many excellent works which he drew 
up and published during his long residence in 
this family. 

In a few years after his coming hither, Sir 
4 



50 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D, 

Thomas Abney died ; but his amiable consort 
survived, who showed the doctor the same re- 
spect and friendship as before ; and most hap- 
pily for him, and great numbers beside ; for, 
as her riches were great, her generosity and 
munificence were in full proportion : her thread 
of life was drawn out to a great age, even be- 
yond that of the doctor's ; and thus this excel- 
lent man, through her kindness, and that of her 
daughter, who in a like degree esteemed and 
honoured him, enjoyed all the benefits he ex- 
perienced at his first entrance into this family 
till his days were finished, and, like a shock of 
corn in its season, he ascended into the regions 
of perfect life and joy. Thus did God most 
remarkably provide a situation for him, for a 
long succession of years, in a house where 
there was every thing that could conduce to his 
comfort and usefulness. What honours are due 
to this family from the church, and world ! 
Where the name of Dr. Watts is mentioned 
as a distinguished blessing, let it ever be grate- 
fully remembered that it might, under Provi- 
dence, be owing to Sir Thomas Abney and his 
amiable lady that he was continued so long a 
burning and a shining light in this hemisphere 
of the church, and that there are such remains 
of his beneficial lustres in the excellent sermons 
and other works which were composed by him 
under their roof. Their eminent characters, and 
particularly their kindness to him, are recorded 
by the doctor himself, and, with a fame like his 
own, shall descend to the latest posterity. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 51 

Our third remark shall be upon the doctor's 
frequent strokes of illness, and the benefits 
which might accrue from them. That he had 
numerous and very afflicting instances of this 
kind, appears from the accounts Dr. Jennings 
gives, in his funeral sermon, of his being laid 
aside by sickness five months soon after he had 
become assistant to Dr. Chauncy, 1698 ; of his 
being visited w r ith another illness quickly after 
his taking the pastoral charge in 1701 ; and of 
a most violent fever which seized him in 1712,. 
shattered his constitution, debilitated his nerves, 
and prevented his return to his public work till 
October, 1716 ; as to the doctor, no doubt, four 
very long and painful years. We also find from 
his own record that he was confined to a bed 
of sickness in 1729.* And in 1736 he com- 
posed a hymn which he styles " Complaint and 
Hope under great Pain," published in his " Rem- 
nants of Time employed in Prose and Verse." 
More instances of his bodily disorders, and 
those to a great degree, might be recited, if 
those already mentioned were not sufficient for 
our purpose. In this manner did his holy, wise, 
and gracious Father see fit to afflict him. He 
travelled through many a " valley of weeping," 
in his pilgrimage to the better country. But 
were not all these dark and distressing dispen- 
sations the procedures of wisdom and goodness ? 
And might not these often-returning trials be 
divinely blessed to keep him low, humble, and 

* Preface to his " Humble Attempt." 



52 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

constantly at the foot of God, as in the case of 
St. Paul, who tells us that, " lest he should be 
exalted above measure through the abundance 
of revelations, he had given him a thorn in the 
flesh?" 2 Cor. xii, 7. Might not this excellent 
man under these sharp afflictions be better able 
to sympathize with his fellow-saints under their 
distresses, be enlarged in his prayers for them, 
and be quickened, both as to his tongue and pen. 
to administer the more abundant consolations, 
as the apostle speaks ? — " And whether we be 
afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, 
which is effectual in enduring the same suffer- 
ings which we also suffer ; or whether we be 
comforted, it is for your consolation and sal- 
vation," 2 Cor. i, 6. 

I may be allowed here to repeat part of a 
letter which the doctor wrote to a minister in 
affliction, in which there appears not only a vein 
of true spiritual friendship, but a powerful pa- 
thos, which his own experience of trials might 
perhaps happily inspire. " It is my hearty de- 
sire for you, that your faith may ride out the 
storms of temptation, and the anchor of your 
hope may hold, being fixed within the veil. 
There sits Jesus our forerunner, who sailed over 
this rough sea before us, and has given us a 
chart, even his word, where the shelves and 
rocks, the fierce currents and dangers, are well 
described ; and he is our pilot, and will conduct 
us to the shores of happiness. I am persuaded 
that in the future state we shall take a sweet 
review of those scenes of Providence which 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 53 

have been involved in the thickest darkness, 
and trace those footsteps of God when he walked 
with us through the deepest waters. This will 
be a surprising delight, to survey the manifold 
harmony of clashing dispensations, and to have 
those perplexing riddles laid open to the eyes 
of our souls, and read the full meaning of them 
I characters of Avisdom and grace." 
Beside all this, the doctor has left us striking 
proofs of his suitable temper of mind, his hope, 
his faith, his submission, and humble pleadings 
with God for relief under his trials ; and we 
should not, I am persuaded, have known so 
much of his piety had he been a stranger to the 
furnace of affliction. How comfortably docs 
he feel himself, and how does his soul rejoice 
in his God, under the pressure of sickness, in 
that second part of what he entitles "Thoughts 
and Meditations in a lon^ Sickness, 1712, 
1711 

, , gracious God. amid these storms of nature, 
Thine eves behold a sweet and sacred calm 
Reign through the realms of conscience. All within 

►eaceful, all composed. Tis wondrous grace 
Keeps oil thv terrors from this humble bosom ; 
Though sfainM with sins and follies, yet serene 
In penitential peace, and cheerful hope. 
Sprinkled and guarded with atoning blood. 
Thy vital smiles, amid this desolation. 
Like heavcnlv sun-beams hid behind the clouds. 
Break out in' happy moments, with bright radiance 
Cleaving the gloom ; the fair celestial light 
Softens and gilds the horrors of the storm, 
And richest cordials to the heart conveys. 
O glorious solace of immense distress ! 



51 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

A conscience and a God ! A friend at home, 
And better Friend on high ! This is my rock 
Of firm support, my shield of sure defence 
Against infernal arrows. Rise, my soul, 
Put on thy courage. Here's the living spring 
Of joys divinely sweet, and ever new, — 
A peaceful conscience, and a smiling Heaven. 

A holy vein of gratitude and praise runs 
through the fourth part of the above-mentioned 
" Thoughts and Meditations ;" in which, blessing 
God for his recovery to health, he says, — 

Rise from my couch, ye late enfeebled limbs, 
Prove your new strength, and show th' effective skill 
Of the divine Physician ; bear away 
This tottering body to his sacred threshold ; 
There, laden with his honours, let me bow 
Before his feet, let me pronounce his grace, 
Pronounce salvation through his dying Son, 
And teach this sinful world the Saviour's name ; 
Then rise, my limning soul, on holy notes 
Toward his high throne ; awake, my choicest songs, 
Run echoing round the roof, and, while you pay 
The solemn vows of my distressful hours, 
A thousand friendly lips shall aid the praise. 

Jesus, great Advocate, whose pitying eye 
Saw my long anguish, and with melting heart 
And powerful intercession spread'st my woes, 
With all my groans, before the Father God, 
Bear up my praises now : thine holy incense 
Shall hallow all my sacrifice of joy, 
And bring these accents grateful to his ear. 
My heart, and life, and lips, and every power, 
Snatch'd from the grasp of death, I here devote , 
By thy bless'd hands, an offering to his name. 

Amen. Hallelujah- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 55 

In evidence of the doctor's admirable temper 
under his trials, I shall make another citation 
from his writings, in which he asks, " But has 
not my spirit been depressed by a sickly con- 
stitution, and confined to a feeble engine of flesh 
under daily disorders ? Have I not sustained 
many sorrows on this account, and wasted some 
years among the infirmities of the body, and in 
painful idleness ? Are there not several souls 
favoured with a more easy habitation, and yoked 
with a better partner ? Are they not accommo- 
dated with engines which have more health 
and vigour, and situated in much more happy 
circumstances, than mine ? What then 1 Shall 
I repine at my lot, and murmur against my 
Creator, because he has made some hundreds 
happier than I, while I survey whole nations, 
and millions of mankind, that have not a thou- 
sandth part of my blessings !" 

In this spirit did he wade through the depths 
of his afflictions, and glorify God in them. How 
instructive, how animating his example ! The 
same man that he was in the pulpit and active 
life, he was also on the couch of sickness, and 
at the brink of the grave. 

There is a hymn of his, which we before 
mentioned, entitled " Complaint and Hope un- 
der great Pain," in which there is such a 
mixture of dutiful resignation to the divine ap- 
pointments, and earnest pleadings with the 
Almighty to relieve him from his sorrows, as 
bears a noble testimony to the excellence of 
his spirit, and affords a bright pattern for the 



56 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

imitation of the saints of God under his correct- 
ing hand. 

Lord, I am pahrd ; but I resign 

To thy superior will ; 
'Tis grace, 'tis wisdom all divine 

Appoints the pains I feel. 

Dark are thy ways of providence, 
While those who love thee groan ; 

Thy reasons lie conceal'd from sense, 
Mysterious and unknown ; 

Yet nature may have leave to speak, 

And plead before her God, 
Lest the o'erburden'd heart should break 

Beneath thy heavy rod. 

Will nothing but such daily pain 

Secure my soul from hell] 
Canst thou not make my health attain 

Thy kind designs as well ] 

How shall my tongue proclaim thy grace, 

While thus at home confined] 
What can I write, while painful flesh 

Hangs heavy on the mind] 

These groans and sighs, and flowing tears, 

Give my poor spirit ease, 
While every groan my Father hears, 

And every tear he sees. 

Is not some smiling hour at hand 

With peace upon its wings ] 
Give it, O God, thy swift command 

With all the joys it brings. 

The doctor's life, as a nonconformist, through 
a kind providence, was cast upon happy days ; 
so that from his birth to his death he had no ex- 
perience of the hardships of persecution for the 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D, 57 

sake of conscience. He was born in the time 
of Charles II., in which, though his venerable 
father was imprisoned for his nonconformity, 
yet it does not appear that any of his family 
suffered on that account, except in the participa- 
tion of his troubles, of which his son might have 
little or no remembrance. His successor, James 
II., was a devotee to the Church of Rome, un- 
wearied in his endeavours to introduce popery, 
and . crush the protectant religion ; and to ac- 
complish his designs he trampled down the 
fences of law and justice, and by his instruments 
of cruelty, JefFeries and Kirke, committed such 
butcheries in the west of England as filled the 
nation with horror. But we do not find that 
either the doctor or any of his family were 
actual sufferers in these horrible times in their 
own persons. A blessed revolution takes place 
in 1688, by the coming of the prince of Orange : 
the baffled tyrant quits the kingdom ; and the 
deliverer, and his excellent princess, by the 
vote of the nation, take the crown. Their con- 
joint reign, and afterward that of the king only, 
who several years survived the queen, proved a 
most propitious era to liberty : the act of tolera- 
tion took place in favour of the Protestant dis- 
senters, and persecution, in all its fines, penal- 
ties, and imprisonments, is known no more. 
The doctor enjoyed the invaluable blessing 
with the rest of his brethren. On King Wil- 
liam's demise, Anne, princess of Denmark, 
ascended the throne, and the nonconformists 
continued unmolested during her reign ; though, 



58 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

for some time before her death, the clouds that 
had so long vanished, gathered again, and hung 
in thick darkness over the dissenters, and the 
friends of freedom and religion in general ; but 
by a remarkable providence they were over- 
blown by the accession to the throne of the 
elector of Hanover, afterward George I. On 
his decease George II. succeeded ; and during 
the reigns of both these excellent kings not the 
least inroads were made upon the liberties of 
the dissenters, but all was tranquillity and enjoy- 
ment. The doctor was removed from our world 
while the last of these princes was upon the 
throne ; and thus, through a long life, he never 
knew any of the distresses of persecution. In 
what a delightful period, a period such as had 
not blessed our land in any age, did this good 
man live ! He had only the report, and not the 
painful experience, of what his venerable fathers 
in the ministry had suffered, when, in 1662, no 
less than two thousand of them were ejected 
from their livings, and .by the act of uniformity 
were impoverished, harassed, fined, and impri- 
soned for worshipping God according to their 
own consciences, and refusing to Gomply with 
the commandments of men. I well remember 
that, discoursing with the late Sir Conyers Jo- 
celyn, about Mr. Baxter and Dr.. Watts, he 
pleasantly observed that " the latter went to 
heaven on a bed of down in comparison of the 
former," Such was the distinguishing privilege 
with which this holy man was favoured, not 
only to his own great comfort, but to the great 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 59 

benefit of the church and world; who might, 
had his feeble frame been hunted down by per- 
secution, or locked up in a damp suffocating 
prison, have been deprived, in a great measure, 
of his numerous useful writings. 

Though others might suffer the wonderful 
deliverance which God wrought by King Wil- 
liam, and the long train of blessings secured 
under providence by that happy event, to fade 
away from their remembrance, Dr. Watts was 
not of the number of those who forgot the mighty 
acts of the Lord, but on every occasion grate- 
fully and piously records them. He drew up a 
hymn of praise for the marvellous salvation by 
King William, November 5th, 1695. He pub- 
lished an animated poem in answer to an infa- 
mous satire, called " Advice to a Painter," 
written by a nameless author against King 
William, in which he expresses his generous 
resentment, displays the hero's merits, and 
crowns him with the noblest praises. W T hat 
renders this poem- in vindication of King Wil- 
liam the more remarkable is, that it is the only 
copy of verses in all his writings that may be 
denominated a satire ; as if no personal offence 
he might receive, or any occasion less than that 
of dispelling the vilest reproach and calumny 
cast upon the most illustrious benefactor of man- 
kind, could rouse him to poetic indignation and 
punishment. On the decease of the king he 
composed a very honourable epitaph upon him, 
in which he celebrates his eminent virtues in 
the sweetest melody and sincerest sorrow, 



60 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

While Queen Anne trod in the steps of her 
illustrious predecessors, William and Mary, the 
doctor addressed a poem to her, full of grateful 
honour, in which he forgets not the praises of 
our illustrious deliverer. He expressly applies 
the seventy-fifth psalm, which he entitles " Pow- 
er and deliverance from God," alone, to the 
glorious revolution by King William, or the 
happy accession of King George to the throne. 
Some time after Queen Anne's decease, he in- 
serted in a new edition of his lyric poems a 
beautiful ode in honour of King George I. ; and, 
when that great prince died, he preached a ser- 
mon on the occasion, in which he largely deli- 
neates his royal excellences, not without a 
recital of our obligations to King William for 
the settlement of the crown in the house of 
Hanover. " Let us recollect," says he, " with 
pleasure, the mercy of God, who inspired his 
predecessor King William, of glorious memory, 
to lay the foundation of the protestant succes- 
sion to the crown of these kingdoms. Then he 
prepared a healing balm for the wound which 
we received at the death of our late sovereign, 
and made a happy provision against a thousand 
distant dangers." On the coronation of George 
II., the doctor wrote a long ode full of the most 
loyal and devout wishes, and enriched with the 
beauties of the finest poetry, though he was then 
between fifty and sixty years of age. In the 
ode he scatters a fresh flower upon the grave of 
King William, as if he should not be unremem- 
bered on any occasion in which his name and 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 61 

praises could with any propriety be introduced. 
The following stanzas conclude the poem : — - 

"Come, light divine, and grace unknown, 
Qome, aid the labours of the throne ; 
Let Britain's golden ages run 
In circles lasting as the sun. 

Bid some bright legions from the sky 

Assist the glad solemnity. 

Ye hosts that wait on fav'rite kings, 

Wave your broad swords, and clap your wings ; 

Then rise, and to your realms convey 
The glorious tidings of the day : 
Great William shall rejoice to know 
That George the Second rules below." 

Thus did the doctor retain and cherish, and 
at all proper opportunities express a lively sense 
of the wonderful salvation by King William, and 
its consequent blessings in the accession of the 
house of Hanover to the throne of these king- 
doms ; blessings which the good man, to his 
ineffable comfort, enjoyed without interruption 
through life. May the glories of that illustrious 
family, and the civil and sacred liberties of 
Great Britain, be ever mingled, ever shine to- 
gether ; and be perpetuated, with increasing 
strength and splendour, till sun and moon shall 
be no more ! 



62 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 



CHAPTER V. 

Though Doctor Watts cultivated every kind 
of learning, and perhaps was the most universal 
scholar of his age ; and though he possessed 
extraordinary abilities as a poet ; yet not enter- 
tainment, but benefit, and that in the most sacred 
and direct sense, to the church and world, evi- 
dently appeared to be the end which he kept 
constantly in view. 

The far greater part of his works is theolo- 
gical, and devoted to the most important and 
useful subjects. Children in early age had no 
small share of his endeavours for their good, as 
his songs and catechisms for their particular 
service, in the most easy and condescending 
language, abundantly show. 

As a poet he was generally employed upon 
divine themes. In the preface to his " Lyric 
Poems" he thus expresses himself: — " It is one 
of the biggest satisfactions I take in giving this 
volume to the world, that I expect to be for ever 
free from the temptation of making or mending 
poems again. Let minds which are better fur- 
nished for such performances pursue these stu- 
dies, if they are convinced that poesy can be 
made serviceable to religion and virtue. As 
for myself, I almost blush to think that I have 
read so little, and written so much. The fol- 
lowing years of my life shall be more entirely 
devoted to the immediate and direct labours of 
my station." 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 63 

It is farther observable, that, in a season of 
more confirmed health, the doctor, not content 
with his stated services on the Lord's day, 
formed a society of the younger members of his 
church for prayer and religious conference, to 
whom he delivered the substance of that excel- 
lent book, which he afterward published, under 
the title of " A Guide to Prayer :" and how 
concerned he was to promote religion among 
his people by his visits to their families, as well 
as his public ministrations, maybe learned from 
what he says in his dedication of the first vo- 
lume of his sermons to them, 1721 : — " As fast 
as my health increases, you may assure your- 
selves it is devoted to your edification. It often 
grieves me to think how poor, feeble, and short 
my present labours are among you, and yet what 
days of faintness I generally feel after every 
such attempt, so that I am continually prevented 
in my design of successive visits to you by the 
want of active spirits while I tarry in the city ; 
and if I attempt to stay but a week or ten days 
there, I find a sensible return of weakness, so 
that I am constrained to return to the country 
air to recruit and maintain this little capacity of 
service. I bless God heartily, and you are my 
witnesses, that, in my better seasons of health 
heretofore and in the intervals of my studies, I 
was not a stranger to your private families, nor 
thoughtless of your souls' improvement." 

I might venture also to add, that not only 
from a delight to oblige particular persons, but 
from a hope of doing public service, he wrote 



64 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

many recommendatory prefaces ; being ready 
to lend the assistance of his name to give a wider 
diffusion to pious and useful compositions than 
they would in all probability have obtained with- 
out it.* And let it be remembered to his honour, 
as a true and faithful servant and follower of his 
Lord, that he studiously embraced the opportu- 
nities which Providence threw in his way of 
trying to do good to particular persons, by pro- 
fitable and pious conversations with them ; of 
which I will mention the following examples : — 
A gentlewoman who was an ornament to her 
sex told me that, in younger life, when on a 
visit at Lady Abney's, she was taken somewhat 
ill, and was left in the house (the rest of the 
family being gone abroad) with only the doctor. 
The good man improved the occasion to enter 

* It may be somewhat difficult to collect all the instances 
of the doctors recommendations of the works of others. 
The following may be enumerated : — ■ 

Preface to the " Life of the Rev. Thomas Halyburton." 

Preface to the Rev. Mr. Bourne's volume of M Prayers 
for Families." 

Preface to the Rev. John Reynolds's " Discourses on 
Reconciliation between God and Man" 

Preface to the Rev. John Jennings's " Discourses on 
preaching Christ." 

Preface to an Abridgment of the Rev. Dr. Cotton Ma- 
ther's Life by Dr. David Jennings. 

Preface to the Rev. Jonathan Edwards's " Narrative of 
the numerous Conversions in New-England, 1734, 1735." 

Preface to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Clark's, of St. Alban's, 
" Collection of Scripture Promises." 

Preface to the Remains of the Rev. John Mason, of 
Water-Stratford. And, 

Preface to the Rev. Mr. Steele's " Religious Tradesman." 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 65 

into discourse with her, and give her most ex- 
cellent advices, of which she retained a pleasing 
remembrance. 

Another instance of the same kind has been 
communicated by the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury, of 
Southampton, as he received it from the mouth 
of the son-in-law of the person. " Mr. Richard 
Ellcock was a servant in old Mr. Watts's family. 
Dr. Watts going to London after the last time 
of his visiting his father at Southampton, Richard 
Ellcock was ordered to go with him a day's jour- 
ney. The doctor entered into serious discourse 
with him, which made a deep and lasting im- 
pression on his heart, and was the means of his 
conversion. After the doctor came to London 
he wrote to his father, recommending the ser- 
vant to his particular regard ; for that he doubted 
not he would make an eminent Christian ; and 
so he lived and died, leaving an honourable 
character for piety and uprightness." 

Those prime and radical constituents of a 
truly good character, truth and sincerity, were 
very conspicuous in the doctor. I never ob- 
served him, in any of his conversations, in the 
least degree affect to disguise any differences 
in religious sentiment between himself and 
others. On the other hand, he appeared quite 
open and free to a declaration whenever an 
occasion offered. If there was any thing which 
he took notice of in his friends not quite proper 
or prudent in his judgment, he took the liberty 
of signifying it to them. He might be safely 
trusted; and his appearances and promises 



66 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

were, I am persuaded, in perfect unison with 
his very soul. He " ran the race that was set 
before him," uninfluenced by emoluments or 
applause on the one hand, or by opposition or 
censure on the other. There was nothing in 
him that could be styled art or design. His 
soul appeared to have no foldings in it, but ex- 
panded itself in an open view at once. His 
mind was a clear transparent stream, whose 
depth was obvious to all, and in which lay trea- 
sures richer than those of Pactolus, whose 
waters glided over beds of gold. He could ap- 
ply to himself the words of St. Paul : " For our 
rejoicing is this, that in simplicity and godly 
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the 
grace of God, we have had our conversation in 
the world." 

He never discovered any thing like a high 
opinion of himself. He by no means treated 
his inferiors with disdain ; there was nothing 
overbearing and dogmatical in his discourse. 
His aspect, motion, and manner of speech be- 
trayed no consciousness of superior abilities. 
Dr. Jennings, who was long and intimately 
acquainted with him, in his funeral discourse, 
bears this honourable testimony to his humility : 
" It was like a deep shade," says he, " if I may 
so express it, that set off his other graces and 
virtues, and made them shine with a brighter 
lustre : and as this grace had a mighty influence 
on his heart and temper, so it had no little effect 
in forming his sentiments, for he never thought 
he could be laid too low as a creature or a sin- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 67 

ner, that he might do honour to the perfections 
and grace of God ; and hence, in a great mea- 
sure, arose that high esteem which he had for 
the Christian' dispensation, which is apparently 
so calculated to exalt God and humble man. 
Nor was his humility less conspicuous in his 
outward carriage toward others. Hence flowed 
that condescension and goodness, that humanity 
and kindness, w T hich could not but endear him 
to all who had the pleasure of conversing with 
him, and which rendered him venerable in a 
much higher degree than all the honours he re- 
ceived from the world." Great as his abilities 
were, and extraordinary as was the acceptance 
of his works in the world, he speaks concern- 
ing his compositions in verse in the humblest 
language. " I make no pretensions," says he, 
" to the name of a poet, or a polite writer, in 
an age wherein so many superior souls shine in 
their works through the nation." 

In a letter which he wrote to the author of 
the " Gentleman's Magazine," when his decision 
was requested upon the merits of several prize 
poems on the subject of astronomy, which had 
been submitted to his judgment, the doctor thus 
modestly expresses himself: — 

"Newington, Dec. 26th, 1734. 
" Sir, — Though I have sported wdth rhyme 
as an amusement in younger life, and published 
some religious composures to assist the worship 
of God, yet I never set myself up among the 
numerous competitors for a poet of the age. 



68 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

much less have I presumed to become their 
judge. It is too great an honour, sir, you have 
done me to place me in that situation, when I 
find myself so utterly unfit to execute such an 
office ; and if I had ever been blessed with a 
capacity of this kind, yet there is a certain limit 
and period to all mortal powers. The gay 
colours of imagery, and the sprightly relish of 
verse, die away, and vanish in my advancing 
age ;* for I have almost left off to read or write 
what was once so engaging. One ought to pre- 
serve a quick sense of beauties and blemishes, 
and an elegant taste of sentiment and language, 
in order to pass a judgment on the labours of 
the muses. 

" I acknowledge your civility, sir, and the 
respect of the gentlemen who have done me 
this honour. I wish, in return, I could adjudge 
the prize to every one of them ; for all have 
their peculiar merit.'' 

He appeared to be nobty avaricious of his 
time, and ever watchful to improve it, suffering 
none of its sands to run down in vain. It is 
not unlikely but many of his pieces were the 
products of his thoughts while he was walking 
or riding. The poem called " A Sight of Hea- 
ven in Sickness," he informed me, was made on 
horseback ; and I remember his telling me that 
had he enjoyed the advantages in his younger 
years of such a situation as that of Lady Ab- 

* The doctor had now entered his sixty-first year. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 69 

ney's seat at Stoke -Newington, (intending, no 
doubt, the spacious and delightful gardens and 
walks belonging to it, which would hare been 
most propitious to his muse,) where he had 
composed one piece of poetry, he should have 
written ten. 

I am persuaded no person who lived to so 
great an age had fewer waste moments to ac- 
count for than the doctor. In his study, his 
delightful recess, his terrestrial paradise, he was 
always enlarging his stores of knowledge, or 
preparing them for a communication to the 
world. His conversation was such as in all 
respects became the man of wisdom, the man 
of God. His observations on others were deep 
and penetrating ; and it is probable their excel- 
lences or defects furnished him with hints for 
several papers in his " Miscellanies," in which 
the different characters of mankind are deline- 
ated, but so as to guard against any personal 
offence in a single instance. When he went 
abroad among the scenes of rural verdure, 
beauty, and fruitfulness, like the bee in its 
ranges for sweets, he was solicitous to gather 
fresh food for heavenly contemplation, or fresh 
materials and ornaments for future compositions. 
The pastures covered with flocks and herds, 
the fields waving with the ripening harvests, the 
groves resounding with the melody of the birds, 
enlivened his praises ; and he saw, heard, and 
confessed his God in all. The skies by day 
struck his soul with admiration of the immense 
power, wisdom, and goodness of their divine 



70 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Author ; the moon and starry train by night in- 
creased his conceptions of Deity ; and in the 
open manuscript of God, the wide -extended 
heavens, he read the letters of his great and 
wonderful name with profound homage and vene- 
ration. All that met his eye or ear was laid, as 
it were, under a perpetual tribute to yield him 
improvement, and consecrate and enrich his 
moments of leisure and necessary cessation from 
his studies. Nature was only a scale to his 
devout soul, by which to ascend to the know- 
ledge and adoration of God. 

That what is here said concerning the doctor 
has the support of truth, I might produce in 
evidence what his sister, Mrs. Brackstone, her- 
self told me of his endeavours, while he was at 
his father's, to lead the then young family, of 
which he was the eldest-born, into a knowledge 
of the wonderful works of God ; my own obser- 
vations of Ms manner of life for several years ; 
and, above all, those of Mr. Parker, his ama- 
nuensis for more than twenty, and those of 
Mrs. x\bney for near forty years : and I might 
strengthen the testimonies to his diligence in 
improving the various scenes of creation by an 
appeal to his Lyric Poems, his Miscellanies in 
Prose and Verse, and even his Songs for Chil- 
dren, several of whose themes are taken from 
the common appearances of nature : but I shall 
make no citations of this kind, as the truth is 
obvious to all who read them, and as I should 
quote, if I would make a collection of all his 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 71 

poems on these subjects, a great part of his 
poetical composures. 

Let me adorn my page with an extract from 
that fine ode which makes a part of the first 
number of Ins " Miscellanies," in which he gives 
honour to God the Creator in the following 
strains : — 

My God, I love, and I adore ; 

But saints who love would know thee more : 

Wilt thou for ever hide, and stand 

Behind the labours of thine hand 1 

Thy hand unseen sustains the poles 

On which this huge creation rolls : 

The starry arch proclaims thy power, 

Thy pencil glows in every flower ; 

In thousand shapes and colours rise 

Thy painted wonders to our eyes ; 

While beasts and birds, with lab'ring throats, 

Teach us a God in thousand notes. 

The meanest pin in nature's frame 

Marks out some letter of thy name : 

Where sense can reach, or fancy rove, 

From hill to hill, from field to grove, 

Across the waves, around the sky, 

There's not a spot, or deep or high, 

Where the Creator has not trod, 

And left the footsteps of a God. 

When he appeared in the pulpit, he had a very 
respectable and serious auditory. Though he 
had little or no action, yet there was such a rich 
vein of good sense and profitable instruction, 
there were such propriety, ease, and beauty in 
his language, such a freedom and at the same 
time correctness in his pronunciation, accom- 
panied with an unaffected solemnity in the 



72 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

delivery of the most sacred and momentous truths, 
that his ministry was much attended, and he 
had a considerable church, and crowded con- 
gregation. His preparations for the pulpit w^ere 
only the heads and particulars of his discourses, 
and some few hints under them ; so that he 
preached partly from his notes, and partly with- 
out them. He wrote more in his preparations 
for the pulpit in younger life than he did in ad- 
vanced years. Dr. Jennings thus expresses him- 
self in his representation of him as a preacher : — 

"It is no wonder that a man thus richly fur- 
nished with gifts and graces was an admired 
preacher. Though his stature was low, and 
his bodily presence but weak, yet his preaching 
Was weighty and powerful. There were a cer- 
tain dignity and respect in his very aspect which 
commanded attention and awe ; and when he 
spoke, such strains of truly Christian eloquence 
flowed from his lips, and these so apparently 
animated with zeal for God, and the most tender 
concern for souls and their everlasting salvation, 
as one would think could not be easily slighted 
or resisted." 

It was remarkable that he gave himself and 
his hearers proper rests at the end of his sen- 
tences, by no means throwing himself into any 
kind of hurry, or impetuous vehemence. He 
never seemed at a loss for matter or expression, 
and appeared to have a perpetual command of 
himself and his subject. I once asked him whe- 
ther in his preaching he did not find himself 
sometimes too much awed by his auditory? 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 73 

He told me that when such a man, mentioning 
a gentleman of eminent abilities and learning, 
has come into the assembly, and taken his eye, 
that he has felt something like a momentary 
tremour upon him ; but that he recovered himself 
by remembering what God sard to the Prophet 
Jeremiah, chap, i, 17: "-Be not dismayed at 
their faces, lest I confound thee before them." 

In prayer it might, perhaps, be truly said that 
he excelled himself. It was throughout an ad- 
dress to Deity, not in florid expressions, not in 
long and involved sentences, but in easy and 
unadorned language, and rather short and weighty 
periods. The doctor informed me, he took pains 
with himself in younger life to shorten his sen- 
tences, and prevent a diffuse and luxuriant style ; 
and with what happy success, his pulpit perform- 
ances were a striking testimony, and, indeed, 
so were all his publications. 

There was an extent in his addresses to 
Deity, which comprehended every proper sub- 
ject ; and at the same time such a brevity, though 
not so as to be disagreeable or affectedly senten- 
tious, in the representation of each of them, that 
at the conclusion of his prayer a hearer' might 
find himself at a loss to conceive what more or 
less could have been said. The like pauses 
between sentence and sentence were observed 
by him in prayer which he observed in preach- 
ing, if they were not rather longer. He was 
most serious in this part of sacred worship. 

In his conversation, as he was far from dis- 
covering any thing like a high opinion of him- 



74 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

self, so neither did he show any thing like a 
disposition to traduce or depreciate the charac- 
ters and abilities of others ; but on the other 
hand he would speak very honourably of per- 
sons whom he thought deserving praise. He 
had his opponents, and such as endeavoured to 
represent him in a disadvantageous light ; but 
I never observed that their treatment drew from 
him any unkind reflections or censures in return. 
1 well remember, upon a publication of his, some 
few years before his death, he was attacked by 
one writer for going too much into one kind of 
theological sentiments, and by another for verg- 
ing to the contrary. The remark the good man 
made upon his peculiar fate was, that " a mode- 
rator must expect to be boxed on both ears." 

As to diet and drink he was very moderate 
and exemplary : he was so far from being in 
subjection to his appetite, that he was the very 
Sobrino he so finely describes as a temperate 
man and a philosopher, " who fed upon partridge 
and pheasant, venison and ragouts, and every 
delicacy, in a growing understanding, and a 
serene and healthy soul." 

There was nothing in him which betrayed a 
penurious temper, or any design and endeavour 
to lay up treasures on earth. He was rich, but 
it was in good works, ready to distribute, walling 
to communicate. The goodness of his heart 
discovered itself in acts of liberality and muni- 
ficence ; and, "T am credibly informed," says 
Dr. Jennings, " that from the time he was re- 
ceived into Sir Thomas Abney's family, he con* 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 75 

stantly devoted a third part of his income to 
charitable uses." In his last decays, when he 
was incapable of public service, he refused to 
receive his usual acknowledgments from the 
church of which he was pastor ; saying, that as 
he could not preach, he had no title to any 
salary. His refusal was not accepted, indeed, 
as it ought not to have been, as the church owed 
its increase so much to him, and as he had spent 
so great a part of his life in his ministry in it. 
But who can but admire this instance of his 
delicate sense of honour, and his noble superi- 
ority to the influence of worldly gain ? It is 
but a just respect to Mr. Price, his colleague, 
to add that he strenuously opposed, and by no 
means would admit, the doctor's declining his 
income, from the consideration of the obligations 
the interest at Berry-street lay under to him. 

He never discovered any thing like a bitter 
zeal, or a narrow spirit, but cordially embraced 
all whom he esteemed the genuine disciples of 
his Lord ; and no party names, nor variety of 
sentiments in matters of doubtful disputation, 
and different modes of worship, could separate 
him in affection from such as he had reason to 
apprehend loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sin- 
cerity. Accordingly, he maintained a free and 
friendly correspondence with Christians of vari- 
ous denominations. Though he judged the 
principles of the nonconformists most favour- 
able to Christian liberty, and their forms of wor- 
ship most . agreeable to the simplicity of the 
gospel ; yet he had a high esteem for the per- 



76 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

sons and writings of many in the established 
church, as many of them, both in higher and 
lower stations, had for him and his writings ; 
and some reverend personages of that commu- 
nion presented him with their w-orks, arid ac- 
cepted of his in return, on which as on other 
occasions very serious and affectionate letters 
have passed between them. 

Nor should the doctor's grateful acknowledg- 
ments of the favours he received, or the ser- 
vices which had been done him, be passed in 
silence. The dedication of his piece entitled, 
"The art of reading and writing English," to 
the three young daughters of Sir Thomas Abney, 
thus expresses the lively sense he had of his 
obligations to his most generous benefactors, the 
worthy gentleman and lady in whose house he 
resided : — " My honoured young friends, when 
it pleased God to afford me the first degrees of 
release from a long and tiresome weakness, I 
thought myself bound to make my best acknow- 
ledgments of that uncommon generosity and 
kindness of your honoured parents, by which I 
was first invited into your family, and my health 
began to be restored. Nor could I do any thing 
more grateful to them, nor pleasing to myself, 
than offer my assistance in some part of your 
education while I was incapable of more public 
work. I began, therefore, at the first principles 
of learning, that I might have an opportunity to 
correct any lesser mistakes of your younger 
years, and so perfect your knowledge of our 
mother tongue ; for this purpose, w T hen I found 






LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 77 

no spelling book sufficient to answer my designs, 
I wrote many of these directions ; but my health 
was so imperfect that I was not able at that 
time to transcribe and finish this little book, 
which was designed for you. Thus it lay by 
neglected some years, till a charity school arose 
at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, raised and sup- 
ported by the diffusive goodness of your family, 
in concert with the pious neighbourhood. Then 
was I requested, and even provoked, to put the 
last hand to this work, for the better instruction 
of the children that were taught there ; though, 
I must confess, it has grown up under my re- 
views of it to a much larger size than I ever 
intended. But, ladies, I take the freedom to 
make you my sole patronesses in this affair ; 
fori scarce know any thing else that can effectu- 
ally defend me for laying out so many hours in 
these rudiments of learning, but a desire to be 
useful in lesser services while I am cut off from 
greater, and the duty of gratitude to an excel- 
lent household, where so many years of my 
affliction have been attended with so rich a 
variety of conveniences and benefits ; and, now 
I ask your leave to offer it to the public. May 
the valuable lives of Sir Thomas Abney, and 
his honoured lady, be prolonged as blessings to 
the world, while the kindness they have shown 
me is signally and plentifully rewarded from 
heaven with blessings on all your heads ; and 
may the little share I have had in assisting your 
education, be improved by divine providence 
and grace, to your temporal and everlasting 



/ 8 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

welfare ! So prays your affectionate instructer, 
and obliged humble servant, Isaac Watts." 

So ardent and inextinguishable was his grati- 
tude to Lady Abney and her family, that he 
mingles his acknowledgments of the favours he 
had received from them in his will, when he 
mentions " the generous and tender care shown 
him by her ladyship, and her family, in his long 
illness many years ago, when he was capable 
of no service, and also her eminent friendship 
and goodness during his continuance in the 
family ever since." 

The same soul which glowed with gratitude 
was also eminent for its friendship. Accord- 
ingly, the doctor, who thus acknowledges his 
obligations to Lady Abney in one part of his 
will, in another passage thus expresses his fra- 
ternal love and honour to the Rev. Samuel Price, 
who had been assistant to him ten years, and 
afterward his copastor thirty-five. He styles 
him " his faithful friend and companion in the 
labours of the ministry ;" and mentions a legacy 
which he leaves him " as only a small testimony 
of his great affection for him, on account of his 
services of love during the many harmonious 
years of their fellowship in the work of the gos- 
pel." And herein he only gave a testimony in 
death to that esteem and affection he had pro- 
fessed toward him in the dedication, dated Feb- 
ruary 21st, 1720-1, to his people of his sermons 
on various subjects, divine and moral, where he 
says that " he could not conceal his joy that 
his kind and faithful companion in the service 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 79 

of their souls practises his ministry with the 
same views and designs, (namely, the glory of 
God, and the good of souls,) and that he had 
been sensibly owned and assisted of God to sup- 
port and build up the church during his long 
confinement. His labours," adds the doctor, 
" both for you and for me shall ever endear him 
both to you and me." The same dedication 
furnishes another proof of the deep sense of love 
and friendship which possessed the doctor's 
heart ; for he thus writes to his church : " It is 
in the service of your souls, I have spent the 
best period of my life ministering the gospel 
among you. Two and twenty years are now 
expired since you first called me to this delight- 
ful work ; and from that time my cares and 
labours, my studies and prayers, have been em- 
ployed on your behalf. I trust they have been 
accepted with God, and, through his almighty 
blessing, have obtained some success. As to 
their acceptance with you, I have too many and 
plain evidences to admit a doubt of it, which I 
have often thankfully acknowledged to God and 
you. Your forward kindness hath always for- 
bid my requests ; nor do I remember that you 
ever gave me leave to ask any thing at your 
hands by your constant anticipation of all which 
I could reasonably desire. While I was thus 
walking with you in the fellowship of the gos- 
pel, with mutual delight, God was pleased to 
wea,ken my strength in the way ; and thereby 
has given you a fairer opportunity to show the 
vigour of your affection under my long weakness 



80 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

and confinement. Your diligence and zeal in 
maintaining public worship in the church, under 
the pastoral care of my dear brother and col- 
league ; your special days and hours of prayer 
for my recovery ; your constant and fervent ad- 
dresses to the throne of grace on my account in 
your weekly solemn assemblies ; and your cheer- 
ful supplies of my necessities under so tedious 
an affliction, have made me your debtor in a high 
degree, and have strengthened the bands of my 
duty by adding to them the bands of your love.'' 
And presently after : "I think I can pronounce it 
with great sincerity, that there is no place, nor 
company, nor employment on this side heaven, 
that can give me such a relish of delight as 
when I stand ministering in holy things to 
you." 

In his conversation the doctor never appeared 
to be at any loss for thought or expression. In- 
deed, no person with whom I was ever ac- 
quainted spoke with more ease, readiness, and 
elegance than he did ; and as his discourse flow- 
ed like a clear full stream from an inexhaustible 
fountain, so it was very instructive and enter- 
taining. I have been at some pains to collect 
some proofs of this kind, the much greater part 
of which are taken from the register of my own 
memory : — 

" I look upon the Apostle Paul and Cicero to 
be the greatest genisuses that ever appeared in 
our world. — Dr. Owen excelled as an experi- 
mental, and Mr. Baxter as a practical divine. — 
The greatest preachers in my younger time were 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 81 

Mr. John Howe and Mr. Thomas Gouge,* whose 
(that is, Mr. Gouge's) strength lay in the illus- 
tration of Scripture. — Mr. Stennet, the Rev. Mr. 

* Accordingly, we find both these ministers eminently- 
distinguished by the doctor in his Lyric Poems. How 
exquisitely fine is that compliment paid Mr. Howe in his 
ode to him ! 

" Great man, permit the muse to climb, 
And seat her at thy feet," &c. ; 

importing that the muse, after she had mounted, and soar- 
ed to the highest pitch her wings could elevate her, could 
ascend no higher than to sit at his feet. The closing lines 
in his elegy on Mr. Gouge contain also an encomium of 
the first magnitude upon Mr. Howe, where, in the rapture 
of his muse, and the height of his affection and esteem, the 
doctor says, 

" Howe is a great and single name ; 

Amidst the crowd he stands alone ; 
He stands, but with his starry pinions on, 
Drest for the flight, and ready to be gone. 
Eternal God, command his stay, 
Stretch the dear months of his delay : 
O we could wish his age was one immortal day ! 
But when the flaming chariot's come, 
And shining guards, t' attend the prophet home, 
Amidst a thousand weeping eyes, 
Send an Elisha down, a soul of equal size, 
Or burn this worthless globe, and take us to the skies." 

As to Mr. Gouge, he has honored him with a long and 
noble elegy. Concerning whom it may be proper to ob- 
serve that he was not the Thomas Gouge ejected from St. 
Sepulchre's, Loudon, by the act of uniformity, 1660, and 
whose funeral sermon was preached by Dr., afterward 
Archbishop, Tillotson, so far back as November, 1681 ; but 
another minister, who was pastor of a church of protestant 
dissenters meeting near the Three Cranes, Thames-treet , 
London, and who was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Ridgley. 
6 



82 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Joseph Stennet, grandfather of the present truly 
amiable Dr. Samuel Stennet, was in his preach- 
ing like a silver stream which runs along with- 
out bush or stones to interrupt it. — What a 
change did Mr. Eames experience ! but a few 
hours between his lecturing to his pupils and 
his hearing the lectures of angels. — If in your 
preaching," (to a young minister,) " you per- 
ceive you make a mistake, do not go back to 
rectify it. Many of tke congregation may not 
notice it, and they who do will excuse it ; but if 
you try to amend it, you expose it to the observa- 
tion of all. — I could wish young ministers in the 
country might be allowed by their people to 
read a part of Mr. Henry's exposition of the 
Bible, or repeat a sermon from some good au- 
thor, one part of the Lord's day ; as it is cer- 
tainly too much for them to compose two ser- 
mons a week so early in life. — One of the 
darkest mysteries in Providence is, that God 
should suffer a worthless and wicked man to 
have the absolute dominion over nations of man- 
kind. — Never mind spoiling a well-turned period 
if you may but have the hope of reaching a con- 
science. Polished and harmonious language is 
oftentimes like oil flowing smoothly over marble, 
which leaves no traces behind it.* — Poor man- 
kind are like feeble riders set on wild horses. — 

* This direction was given in a charge I heard the doctor 
deliver at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Snashall, 
at Stoke-Newington, about July, if I mistake not, 1738. 
I well remember, also, that the minister who prayed over 
Mr. Snashall, before the doctor gave the charge, made usa 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 83 

The multitude go in a track, not where they 
should go, but where others go. — I know not 
but my days of restraint and confinement by 
affliction may appear my brightest days when I 
come to take a review of them in the light of 
heaven. — St. Paul's thorn in the flesh, mention- 
ed 2 Cor. xii, 7, was the debilitated state of his 
nerves occasioned by the overpowering glories 
of heaven ; whence I conclude," said he, " that 
the apostle was in the body when he was caught 
up into paradise.* — I had rather be the author 
of Mr. Baxter's ' Call to the Unconverted,' than 
the author of Milton's ' Paradise Lost.' — Should 
a heathen be convinced of his sins, humbly and 
penitentially confess them before God, and im- 
plore his mercy, he would, in my opinion, be 
accepted of him, as he was prepared for receiv- 
ing grace, and only wanted the object of faith to 
be revealed to him. — It seems quite reasonable 
and fit that there should be a general diffusion 
and reign of the gospel ; and that for some con- 
siderable continuance before the end of time, as 
there has been such a general dominion of sin 
and misery for so many ages in our world." 
Such was the substance, I pretend not to re- 

of this Scripture expression, " Lord, we remember our 
faults this day." The doctor took notice of it, as falling 
from the lips of his reverend brother, and approved and 
adopted it into his preface to his charge, in the easiest and 
happiest manner. Such was his ready and immediate com- 
mand of thought and language. 

*The doctor's conjecture agrees with what the apostle 
says concerning himself, that " he was with the Corinthians 
in weakness, and in fear, and much trembling, " 1 Cor. ii, 3. 



84 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

collect the exact words, of some of the doctor's 
occasional observations and speeches ; to which 
I will add some critical remarks, which I also 
gathered from his conversation, and which may 
not be unacceptable to the public. 

Dr. Young's description of the peacock, in 
his poetical paraphrase of some of the last chap- 
ters of the book of Job, he styles " admirable" 
in his works ; but he particularly mentioned to 
me, how much he was pleased with the latter 
part of that line, 

" Gives all his colours and adorns the day." 

Not the day adorning the peacock, but the pea- 
cock adorning the day ; but as to Dr. Yoimg's 
" Night Thoughts," he pleasantly said, " that 
they had too much of the darkness of the night 
in them." In the Rev. John Norris's ode, en- 
titled " The Meditation," or, in other words, a 
view of death, the doctor commended the close 
of the second stanza : — 

" Amazing state ! No wonder that we dread 
To think of death or view the dead : 
Thou Tt all wrapt up in clouds, as if to thee 
Our very knowledge had antipathy : 
Death could not a more sad retinue find, 
Sickness and pain before, and darkness all behind:" — 

observing that the expressions, " darkness all 
behind," are a very just representation of our 
ignorance of the state beyond death. But he 
was displeased with the next stanza : — 

" Some courteous ghost, tell this great secrecy, 
What 'tis you are and we must be : 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 85 

You warn us of approaching death, and why- 
May we not know from you what 'tis to die I 
But you, having shot the gulf, delight to see 
Succeeding souls plunge in with like uncertainty." 

His objection was, that the last lines convey- 
ed a sentiment quite improper, and incongruous 
to the ideas it becomes us to form concerning 
pious, benevolent spirits in their separate state. 
I will also mention on this head, — the doctor's 
criticisms, — his illustration of that passage in 
Job xli, 18, where it is said concerning the cro- 
codile, that " his eyes are like the eye -lids of 
the morning." " In the morning you may some- 
times observe," said he, " upon the edge of the 
horizon, a bright opening of the day, and above 
it a black, scowling cloud. The bright opening 
of the day is not unlike an eye, and the incum- 
bent cloud is not unlike an eye-lid ; and hence 
the poetic ground for the expression, ' the eye- 
lids of the morning.'" I know not where to 
find a more proper place than the present con- 
nection for inserting a remark which he made 
upon two or three stanzas in his imitation of the 
" Psalms of David," the only time, to the best 
of my recollection, I ever heard him so much as 
hint any thing which might seem to convey a 
good opinion of what he had ever written. The 
stanzas I refer to are in his version, or imita- 
tion, of the seventh Psalm. 

If I had e'er provoked them first, 

Or once abused my foe, 
Then let him tread my life in dust, 

And lay mine honour low : 



86 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

If there be malice found in me, 

I know thy piercing eyes ; 
I should not dare appeal to thee, 

Nor ask my God to rise : 

Arise, my God, lift up thine hand, 

Their pr e and power control ; 
Awake to judgment, and command 

Deliverance for my soul. 

There is the strongest declaration of inno- 
cence which can possibly be imagined in the 
line, 

''Arise, my God, lift up thine hand,'' 

immediately succeeding the psalmist's saying, 
that " he should not dare to appeal to him, if he 
harboured any malice against his enemies ;" so 
that, at the same time "the holy man presents 
his prayer to God, he, without the least doubt- 
fulness, asserts his own integrity. 

T will subjoin to these criticisms of the doc- 
tor upon written compositions, an observation 
which he made upon a performance in painting ; 
to which art he was by no means a stranger, as 
he found leisure to employ his pencil amidst all 
the greater labours of his pen. In that cartoon 
of Kaphael's where St. Paul is represented 
preaching at Athens, the apostle is drawn 
stretching out his hands to their utmost length 
toward heaven, while the people are held in the 
most deep and devout attention below. " I will 
tell 3~ou," said the doctor, "what St. Paul is 
saying, ' Behold, he comes.'" And were we to 
think as long as we will, we could not, perhaps, 
conceive any words more suitable to the aspect 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 87 

and attitude of the speaker, and trie solemnity 
reigning upon the countenances of the hearers. 

Perhaps, it may not be without its benefit if I 
should add to the doctor's remarks, some occa- 
sional speeches which he had gathered from 
others. " Young man," said Sir Edmund King 
to him in his early life, " I hear that you make 
verses. Let me advise you never to do it but 
when you cannot help it." " If a man would 
be a great man," said Sir Richard Blackmore, 
t; he must join the keenness of the razor, and 
the strength of the axe." Dr. Owen used to 
say in his advanced age, " that he would gladly 
part with all the learning he had acquired by 
sitting up late at study, in younger life, if he 
could but regain the health he had lost by it." 
" That is an excellent observation," said the 
doctor, " of Thomas a Kempis, that it does not 
require much ingenuity to be a Christian." 

He possessed a large portion of wit, perhaps 
few persons so much ; but he never seemed in 
the least degree fond of displaying it ; and much 
less in the way of satire. Wit fell from him 
like occasional fire from heaven ; and, like the 
ethereal flame, was ever vivid and penetrating. 

Just at the entrance of his study, on the out- 
side, appeared the following lines of Horace, 
printed, and hung up in a frame : — 

Absentem qui rodit amicum 
Qui noil defendit, alio culpante ; solutos 
Qui caput risus hominum, famamque dicacis, 
Fingere qui non visa potest, commissa tacere 
Qui nequit, hie niger est ; hunc tu, Romane, caveto. 

Horat. 



88 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

IN ENGLISH. 

" He who against an absent friend inveighs, 
Or, when attack'd, will not protect his praise ; 
He in whose converse biting jests abound, 
At others' cost who sends the laugh around ; 
He who with impudence deals out his lies, 
And says he saw w T hat never met his eyes ; 
He who still talks and talks, or right or wrong, 
And glories in his flippancy of tongue ; 
He who betrays through levity of mind 
Th' important secret of his breast consign'd ; 
This man is black indeed : avoid the pest, 
Nor let your doors admit him for your guest." 

The spaces in the doctor's study where there 
were no shelves were abundantly covered with 
prints of considerable persons, mostly divines. 
On one side of the large and high panel over 
the fire place a piece of white paper was framed, 
and hung up amidst the portraits, with part of 
a line from Horace, 

Locus est pluribus umbris. 

ENGLISHED. 

" Though numerous pictures spread these panels round, 
Yet here and there a vacant space is found." 

And on the other side of the panel another 
piece of white paper, alike encircled with pic- 
tures, was in the same manner framed, and hung 
up to view, with a Latin line, as I suppose, of 
the doctor's own composition : 

Quis me doctorum propria dignabitur umbra 1 

ENGLISHED. 

" What son of learning will increase my store, 
And to these worthies add one worthy morel" 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 89 

A very inoffensive, genteel, and perhaps suc- 
cessful method of procuring an addition to his 
illustrious shades. 

I will close the chapter when I have added 
the Latin verses which he most probably com- 
posed for his own picture, and which are, ac- 
cordingly, placed under it : 

In Chris to mea vita latet, mea gloria Christus, 
Hunc lingua? hunc calamus celeb rat, nee imago tacebit. 
In uno Jesu omnia. 

ENGLISHED. 

" In Christ my life is safe reposed, 

I glory in his name ; 
Him, whom my tongue and pen disclosed, 

My portrait shall proclaim. 
Jesus ! my whole felicity 
Is centred and comprised in thee." 

Such was the character of Dr. Watts as a 
Christian and minister, and these were the graces 
and virtues with which this extraordinary man 
was adorned. He sometimes discovered a quick 
emotion and hastiness of temper, and would 
speak with a manifest degree of keenness and 
poignancy ; but effervescences of this kind might, 
at least in part, be owing to the disagreeable 
sensations occasioned by the weakness and dis- 
order of his body : however, they were quite 
momentary, and he soon returned to his former 
possession and placid dignity of soul. On the 
whole, if he had his spots, they were, like those 
of the sun, abundantly compensated by superior 
glories. 



90 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D-. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Dr. Jennings,. in his funeral sermon, says 
that he questions whether any author before 
Dr. Watts ever appeared with reputation on such 
a variety of subjects as he has done, both as a 
prose-writer and a poet. " However," adds he, 
" this I may venture to say, that there is no 
man now T living, of whose works so many have 
been diffused at home and abroad, which are in 
such constant use, and translated into such a 
variety of languages ; many of which, I doubt 
not, will remain more durable monuments of 
his great talents than any representation I can 
make of them, though it were to be graven on 
pillars of brass. Thus did he shine as an in- 
genious man and a scholar." 

Perspicuity is most eminent in all Dr. Watts's 
works ; and perhaps no author ever excelled 
him in this first excellence of composition. 
Whatever he discourses upon, be it a theme of 
morality, a question in philosophy, or the sub- 
limest doctrine of religion, he is everywhere 
clear, and easy to be understood. He is so far 
from writing obscurely upon a common subject, 
that he brings down the highest subjects to the 
level of a common capacity by the perspicuous 
manner in which he treats them : a prime felicity 
indeed, which might be owing to his own clear 
and distinct ideas ; to his deep investigation and 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 91 

complete knowledge of the subjects upon which 
he wrote ; to his large acquaintance with the 
English language ; to his avoiding terms of 
science and art, obsolete expressions, and words 
of foreign derivation, not familiar to the gene- 
rality of mankind ; to his guarding against a 
penurious conciseness of style on the one hand, 
and an ungovernable luxuriance on the other, 
by the first of which extremes his meaning 
might be obscured, or not be fully represented 
for want of a sufficient quantity of words ; and by 
the last of which he might have been earned into 
a tedious labyrinth, through which a common 
reader might not have been able to follow him ; 
or this perspicuity might sometimes take its rise 
from the apt and well-chosen comparisons so 
frequent in the doctor's writings, which illus- 
trate, at the same time that they enliven and 
adorn, his compositions. 

Some wTiters of the first merit for excellent 
matter have rendered their compositions hard to 
be understood, and so, in some measure, dimi- 
nished their usefulness, for want of attending 
to this point, the restraint of their sentences, 
to a moderate length. They begin a sentence, 
thoughts rise upon thoughts, and they are ac- 
cordingly communicated in clusters ; something 
needs explanation, something to be guarded ; 
for these purposes they have recourse to paren- 
theses, and all this is done before the sentence 
is concluded. Whereas, had they distributed 
their matter into two or more periods, they 
would have preserved all their ideas, and 



92 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

would have been comprehended at once by their 
readers. 

The doctor has himself treated upon this point, 
the advantage of a confined style, to secure 
perspicuity, in his second part of the " Improve- 
ment of the Mind," chap, ii, sec. 6. "A long 
-and tedious style," says he, "is very improper 
for a teacher ; for this also lessens the perspi- 
cuity of it. Some learned writers are never 
satisfied, unless they fill up every sentence with 
a great number of ideas and sentiments. They 
swell their propositions to an enormous size by 
explications, exceptions, and precautions, lest 
they should be mistaken, and crowd them all 
into the same period. They involve and darken 
then discourse by many a parenthesis, and pro- 
long their sentences to a tiresome extent, beyond 
the reach of a common comprehension. Such 
sort of writers or speakers may be rich in know- 
ledge, but they are seldom fit to communicate 
it. He that would gain a happy talent for the 
instruction of others, must know how r to disen- 
tangle and divide his thoughts, if too many are 
ready to crowd into one paragraph ; and let him 
rather speak three sentences distinctly and 
clearly, which the hearer receives at once with 
his ears and his soul, than crowd all the thoughts 
into one sentence, which the hearer has forgot- 
ten before he can understand it." 

Near akin to the excellence of perspicuity of 
language is that of ease or freedom. In this, also, 
he excels. His discourses are like streams de- 
volving from a fountain, or rays descending from 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 93 

the sun. There is nothing like labour or study 
in the construction of his sentences, but he 
seems to write in the same language in which 
he would have spoken. Happy attainment ! 
Attainment. I call it ; for, however great the 
doctor's native genius was, it must have cost 
him no small attention and care to form and 
habituate himself to a style which appears to 
be spontaneous, and a natural conveyance of 
his ideas without confusion, obscurity, or dimi- 
nution. 

As the above excellences of composition are 
nobly exemplified in his writings, so they have 
been distinguished by the doctor with the praises 
they merit, in the following passage : — " When a 
man,*' says he, " speaks with much freedom and 
ease, and gives his opinion in the plainest lan- 
guage of common sense, do not presently imagine 
you shall gain nothing by his company. Some- 
times you will find a person who, in his conver- 
sation or his writings, delivers his thoughts in 
so plain, so easy, so familiar, and perspicuous a 
manner, that you both understand and assent to 
what he says as fast as you can read or hear it. 
Hereupon some readers have been ready to con- 
clude in haste, Surely this man says nothing but 
common things. I knew as much before : I could 
have said all this myself. This is a frequent mis- 
take. Pellucido was a very great genius. When 
he spoke in the senate he was wont to convey 
his ideas in so simple and happy a manner as to 
instruct and convince every hearer, and to 
enforce the conviction through the whole 



94 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. 1). 

illustrious assembly ; and that with so much 
evidence, you would have been ready to wonder 
that every one who spoke had not said the same 
things. But Pellucido w^as the only man who 
could do this ; the only speaker who had attain- 
ed this art and honour." Such is the writer of 
whom Horace w^ould say, 

•Ut sibi quivis 
Speret idem, sudet inultum, frustraque laboret 
Ausus idem. 

Horat. de Arte Poetica. 

" Smooth be your style, and plain and natural, 
To strike the sons of Wapping and Whitehall. 
While others think this easy to attain, 
Let them but try, and with their utmost pain 
They'll sweat and strive to imitate in vain." 

Let a person read one of Mr. Addison's 
papers in the " Spectator," or one of Dr. Watts's 
numbers in his " Miscellanies," and he shall 
find the periods flow so smooth and easy that 
he shall imagine it to be no difficulty to com- 
pose in the same manner ; but let him but make 
the experiment, and he will soon be convinced 
that he must have a portion of the same ge- 
nius to enable him to acquit himself with the 
like success. 

Our next article of observation upon the doc- 
tor's writings is that of dignity. Though he 
steers his flight within the view of all, and 
sometimes stoops in the lowest condescension, 
especially in his " Catechisms for young Chil- 
dren," yet when does he ever sink into mean- 
ness, or debase his composures by any thing 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 95 

puerile or trifling ? Where are there any words 
low and grovelling, and at the highest only just 
admissible into conversation, to be found in all 
his works 1 Where are there any trite and 
hackneyed proverbs, of too coarse a texture to 
be woven into discourses of religion and virtue ? 
Where are there any puns or jingles,. affected 
antitheses, fantastic conceits, or disgusting levi- 
ties ? And though his similes may be some- 
times taken from common life or common 
scenes, yet, as wrought up by him, they appear 
in becoming grandeur. I will not venture to 
affirm that, in the numerous treatises he has 
published, there is not so much as a single in- 
stance in any of the particulars of debasement 
that have been mentioned to be met with ; yet I 
may be bold to say that he has upon the whole 
most happily avoided them, and this too amid 
his constant regards to perspicuity and freedom. 
There is another article which may be ranged 
under dignity, in which the doctor also excels : 
I mean the harmony of his metaphors and 
comparisons. Nothing is more offensive to a 
hearer or reader of taste, than to find the tropes 
of rhetoric, when they are carried out into any 
length, confused and jarring, or made up of 
images snatched in violation of all propriety 
from contrary objects, and absurdly huddled 
together. This incongruity is what Quintilian 
so justly censures when he says that " many 
have set out with a tempest and ended with a 
conflagration ; the effect of which has been a 
shameful inconsistency." And the " Spectator" 



96 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

passes the like just censure upon it when he 
tells us that " an unskilful author shall run 
metaphors so absurdly into one another, that 
there shall be no simile, no agreeable picture, 
no apt resemblance, — but confusion, obscurity, 
and noise. Thus have I known a hero com- 
pared to a thunderbolt, a lion, and the sea ; all 
and each of them proper metaphors for impetu- 
osity, courage, or force ; but by bad manage- 
ment it has so happened that the thunderbolt 
has overflowed its banks, the lion has darted 
through the skies, and the billows have rolled 
out of the Lybian desert." But where are any 
such metaphors or comparisons observable in 
the doctor's writings ? I know not of one ; 
but it were easy to refer to a great variety that 
open, flow on, and conclude with the most 
beautiful harmony. If I should not dwell too 
long on this particular excellence, I would re- 
cite a few examples, which, as they adorn the 
doctor's pages, may adorn mine. " What un- 
easy creatures are we made by our various 
passions ! How often do they disquiet and 
torment the soul ! How headstrong is their 
violence, like a horse unbroken and untamed ! 
How sudden are their starts ! their motions how 
wild and various ! And how unruly are their 
efforts ! Now if one had but one sovereign 
bridle, which could reach and manage them all, 
one golden rein, which would hold in all their 
unruly motions, and which would also excite 
and guide them at pleasure, what an invaluable 
instrument would this be to mortals ! Surely 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 97 

such an instrument is the love of God, such an 
invaluable regulator of all the passionate powers ; 
and it will have this effect where it is, as it 
ought to be, strong and supreme." Again : 
* To employ the passions for God is to take a 
most powerful engine out of the hands of sin 
and Satan, and reduce it to the obedience of 
Christ. It is the recovery of a considerable 
part of human nature out of dismal captivity and 
bondage. The passions are the warmest and 
strongest powers of the soul. They are the 
artillery whereby man wages war for or against 
Heaven. The passions are by nature devoted 
to the service of sin, and engaged on the devil's 
side in his wars against the Almighty ; and 
they are charged with the seeds of impious fire 
and thunder ; but, when divine grac*> has taken 
hold of them, and employed them on the side 
of God and religion, it is like seizing the cannon 
of the enemy from their old batteries, and plant- 
ing them in new bulwarks, to make war upon 
the devil and all his army." How apt and how 
well-conducted is that simile which the doctor 
adopts when, after he had said that a teacher 
should not only observe the different spirit and 
humour among his scholars, but should watch 
the various efforts of their reason and growth 
of their understanding, he goes on, and adds 
" that he should practise in his young nursery 
of learning as a skilful gardener does in his 
vegetable dominions, and apply prudent methods 
of cultivation to every plant. Let him, with a 
discreet and gentle hand, nip or prune the irre» 
7 



98 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

gular shoots : let him guard and encourage the 
tender buds of the understanding till they be 
raised to a blossom ; and let him kindly cherish 
the younger fruits." " The love of God," says 
he, " is a flower of divine original, and of the 
growth of paradise. If the Holy Spirit has 
planted it in your heart, let not any other love 
be planted too near it, nor too much nourished, 
lest it draw away the vital moisture, and cause 
the love of God to languish and wither." I 
will add one more allegory, or chain of meta- 
phors, in which there appears a like beautiful 
consistency. " A young bright genius," says 
the doctor, " who has furnished himself with a 
variety of truths and strong arguments, but yet 
is qt« acquainted with the world, goes forth from 
the schools, like a knight-errant, presuming 
bravely to vanquish the follies of men, and to 
scatter light and truth through all his acquaint- 
ance. But he meets with huge giants and en- 
chanted castles, strong prepossessions of mind, 
habits, customs, education, authority, interest, 
together with all the various passions of men 
armed and obstinate to defend their old opinions, 
and he is strangely disappointed in his gene- 
rous attempts. He finds now that he must 
not trust merely to the sharpness of his steel 
and the strength of his arms, but that he must 
manage the weapons of his reason with much 
dexterity and artifice, with skill and address, 
or he shall never be able to subdue errors, and 
to convince mankind." 

There is another excellence in his composi- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 99 

tions which deserves particular notice, that of 
ardour or animation. Though in opening, illus- 
trating, explaining, proving, and the like, he is 
calm and cool, yet when he means to enforce 
and effectually persuade, what vehemence, 
what flame, what rapture, not unlike the elo- 
quence of Demosthenes, whom Longinus com- 
pares to a thunderbolt ; or of Cicero, whom the 
same great critic resembles to a conflagration. 
I will produce an instance or two of this kind. 
Under a remark of the doctor's how much it is 
the business of a minister of the gospel to en- 
gage the affections of the hearers, and to bring 
them over to the service of God and religion, 
after he has taken notice of the animation which 
runs through the writings of the prophets, and 
the discourses of our Lord and his apostles, 
he thus gives the reins to his divine oratory : — 
" Can any one of us now content ourselves to 
bring cold and languid discourses into the pul- 
pit with this Bible under our hands 1 Will not 
all the sacred fervours of these inspired preach- 
ers reproach us to our faces while we read and 
explain their sermons ? Shall we go to affect a 
calm and stupid politeness of phrase in the 
very face of these warm and heavenly orators ? 
Can we be content any longer to be the cold 
and lifeless rehearsers of the great and glorious 
things of our religion.? Can we go on to speak 
to perishing sinners, who lie drowsy and slum- 
bering on the brink of hell, in so soft, so calm, 
and gentle a manner as though we were afraid 
to awaken them ? What shall we say to these 



100 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

things ? Does divine love send dreaming preach- 
ers to call dead sinners to life ? preachers who 
are content to leave their hearers asleep on the 
brink of eternal destruction? Have they no 
such thing as passion belonging to them ? Have m 
they no pity, no fear ? Have they no sense of 
the worth of souls ? Have they no springs of 
affection within them I Or do they think their 
hearers have not ? Or is passion so vile a 
power that it must all be devoted to flesh and 
sense, and must never be applied to objects 
divine and heavenly? Who taught any of us 
this lazy and drowsy practice ? Did God or 
his prophets, did Christ or his apostles instruct 
us in this modish art of still life, this lethargy 
of preaching, as it has been called by a late 
writer ? Did the great God ever appoint statues 
for his ambassadors to invite sinners to his 
mercy ? Words of grace written upon brass 
or marble would do the work almost as well. 
Where the preachers become stone, no wonder 
if the hearers are moveless. But let the minis- 
ters of the living word, who address men upon 
matters of infinite concernment, show, if pos- 
sible, that they are infinitely concerned about 
them." 

In like manner the doctor, showing how in- 
effectual discourses on the excellence of virtue 
would be to reform mankind without awakening 
their hopes and fears by promises and threats, 
thus addresses Lord Shaftesbury under the name 
of Rhapsodus, who affirms "that neither the fear 
of future punishment, nor the hope of future 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 101 

reward, can possibly be called good affections. 
" Go dress up," says the doctor, " all the virtues 
of human nature in all the beauties of your ora- 
tory, and declaim aloud on the praise of social 
virtue and the amiable qualities of goodness till 
your hearts or lungs ache, among the looser 
herds of mankind, and you will ever find, as 
as your heathen fathers have done before you, 
that the wild appetites and passions of men are 
too violent to be restrained by such mild and 
silken language. You may as well build up a 
fence of straw and feathers to resist a cannon- 
ball, or try to quench a flaming grenade with a 
shell of fair water, as hope to succeed in these 
attempts. But an eternal heaven and an eternal 
hell carry divine force and power with them. 
This doctrine from the mouth of Christian preach- 
ers has begun the reformation of multitudes. 
This gospel has recovered thousands among the 
nations from iniquity and death. They have 
been awakened by these awful scenes to begin 
religion ; and afterward their virtue has improved 
itself into superior and more refined principles 
and habits by divine grace, and risen to high 
and eminent degrees, though not to a consum- 
mate state. The blessed God knows human 
nature better than Rhapsodus doth, and has 
throughout his word appointed a more proper 
and more effectual method of address to it by 
the passions of hope and fear, by punishments 
and rewards." 

A fifth excellence observable in the doctor's 
writings, and which he possesses in an uncom- 



102 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

mon measure, is that of plentitude of ideas. 
Whiat subject is there upon which he has writ- 
ten, however dry and unpromising it might seem, 
but what, under his culture has from a barren, 
naked spot been turned into a held or garden of 
universal verdure and bloom ? Is there not evident 
in all his works an originality of thought ? Or is 
there not something said, and that very pertinent 
and proper, upon the subjects which he discusses, 
which never occurred to us before, or at least 
never appeared in so bright and pleasing a 
dress ? This excellence I may style a distin- 
guishing excellence in his writings ; and it is, if 
I mistake not, eminently conspicuous in his 
descriptions, of which I shall give a few, and 
but a few, specimens. 

AVould he open to his readers wherein the na- 
ture of prudence lies, how happily has he defined 
it when he says, '• Prudence consists in judging 
well what is to be said, and what is to be done, 
on every new occasion ; when to lie still, and 
when to be active ; when to keep silence, and 
when to speak ; what to avoid, and what to pur- 
sue ; how to act in every difficulty ; what means 
to make use of to compass such an end ; how to 
behave in every circumstance of life, and in all 
companies ; how to gain the favour of mankind 
in order to promote our own happiness, and to 
do the most service to God, and the most good 
to men, according to that station we possess, 
and those opportunities we enjoy." 

After he has enumerated the ornaments and 
accomplishments of life, proper for persons in 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 103 

younger life, such as grammar, logic, geome- 
try, geography, astronomy, natural philosophy, 
history, and poetry, &c, he' concludes with a 
description of the finishing beauties which he 
would wish to find in young persons. "But 
among all the accomplishments of youth there is 
none preferable," says he, "to a decent and agree- 
able behaviour among men, a modest freedom of 
speech, a graceful and lowly deportment, a cheer- 
ful gravity and good humour, with a mind ever 
serene under the ruffling accidents of human life. 
Add to this, a pleasing solemnity and reverence 
when the discourse turns upon any thing sacred 
and divine, a becoming neglect of injuries, a 
hatred of calumny and slander, a habit of speak- 
ing well of others, a pleasing benevolence and 
readiness to do good to mankind, and special com- 
passion to the miserable, with an air and coun- 
tenance, in a natural and unaffected manner, ex- 
pressive of all these excellent qualifications. Some 
of these," he adds, " are to be numbered among 
the duties and virtues of mankind ; but they must 
be confessed to be ornaments as well as virtues. 
They are graces in the eye of man as well as God. 
These will bespeak the affection of all who know 
us, and engage even an ill-natured world betimes 
in our favour. These will enable the youth of 
both sexes, who are so happy as to attain them, 
to enter upon the stage of life with approbation 
and love ; to pass through the world with ease, as 
far as ease may be expected in so degenerate and 
unhappy a state of things ; to finish the scenes 
of action on earth with applause ; and leave 



104 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

behind them the monument of a good name, 
when their bodies sleep in the dust, and their 
souls dw T ell with God." 

The description he gives of poetry in its powers 
and pleasures is such as may well charm us with 
its beauty, at the same time it convinces us of the 
benefit of a good acquaintance with those writers 
who have most excelled in that noble art. " Nor 
is this a mere amusement or useless embroidery 
of the mind. It brightens and animates the fancy 
with a thousand beautiful images ; it enriches the 
soul with many great and sublime sentiments, 
and refined ideas ; it fills the memory with a noble 
variety of language, and furnishes the tongue with 
speech and expression suited to every subject. 
It teaches the art of describing well, and of paint- 
ing every thing to the life, and dressing up all the 
pleasing and frightful scenes of nature and provi- 
dence, vice and virtue, in their proper channs and 
horrors. It assists us in the art of persuasion ; it 
leads us into a pathetical manner of speech and 
writing, and adds life and beauty to conversation." 
Thunder and lightning, both at distance and near 
at hand, are admirably represented by him in the 
following description : — " When we hear the 
thunder rumbling in some distant quarter of the 
heavens, we sit calm and serene amid our busi- 
ness or diversions ; we feel no terrors about 
us, and apprehend no danger. When we see 
the slender streaks of lightning play afar off in 
the horizon of an evening sky, we look on and 
amuse ourselves as with an agreeable spectacle 
without the least fear or concern. But, lo, the 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 105 

dark cloud rises by degrees ; it grows black as 
night, and big with tempests ; it spreads as it 
rises to the mid heaven, and now hangs directly 
over us ; the flashes of lightning grow broad and 
strong, and like sheets of ruddy fire they blaze 
terribly all around the hemisphere. We bar the 
doors and windows and every avenue of light, 
but we bar them all in vain ; the flames break 
in at every cranny, and threaten swift destruc- 
tion. The thunder follows, bursting from the 
cloud with sudden and tremendous clashes ; the 
voice of the Lord is redoubled with violence, 
and overwhelms us with terror ; it rattles over 
our heads, as though the whole house was bro- 
ken down at once with a stroke from heaven, 
and were tumbling on us amain to bury us in 
the ruins. Happy the man whose hope in his 
God composes all his passions amid these 
storms of nature, and renders his whole deport- 
ment peaceful and serene amid the frights and 
hurries of weak spirits and unfortified minds!" 
I shall close the specimen of the doctor's emi- 
nent talents for description, in which he has ideas 
at command to enable him to say enough, and 
judgment to teach him when to say no more, 
with that admirable meditation of his " For the 
First of May." " What astonishing variety of 
artifices, what innumerable millions of exquisite 
works, is the God of nature engaged in every 
moment ! How gloriously are his all-pervading 
wisdom and power employed in this season of 
the year, this spring of nature ! What infinite 
myriads of vegetable beings is he forming this 



106 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

very moment in their roots and branches, in 
their leaves and blossoms, their seeds and fruits ! 
Some, indeed, began to discover their bloom 
amid the snows of January, or under the rough 
cold blasts of March. Those flowers are withered 
and vanished in April, and their seeds are now 
ripening to perfection. Others are showing 
themselves this day in all their blooming pride 
and beauty, and while they adorn the gardens 
and meadows with gay and glowing colours, 
they promise their fruits in the days of harvest. 
The whole nation of vegetables is under the 
divine care and culture ; his hands form them 
day and night with admirable skill and unceas- 
ing operation, according to the natures he first 
gave them ; and he produces their buds and 
foliage, their flowery blossoms and rich fruit, in 
their appointed months. Their progress in life 
is exceeding swift at this season of the year, 
and their successive appearances and sweet 
changes of raiment are visible almost hourly. 
But these creatures are of lower life, and give 
but feebler displays of the Maker's wisdom. Let 
us raise our contemplations another story, and 
survey a nobler theatre of divine wonders. What 
endless armies of animals is the hand of God 
moulding and figuring this moment throughout 
his brutal dominion ! What immense flights of 
little birds are now fermenting in the egg, heav- 
ing and growing toward shape and life ! What 
vast flocks of four-footed creatures, what droves 
of large cattle, are now forming in their early 
embryos, imprisoned in the dark cells of nature ; 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 107 

and others, perhaps, moving toward liberty, and 
just preparing to see the light ! What unknown 
myriads of insects in their various cradles and 
nesting-places are now working toward vitality 
and motion, and thousands of them with their 
painted wings just beginning to unfurl, and ex- 
pand themselves into fluttering and day-light, 
while other families of them have forsaken their 
husky beds, and exult and glitter in the warm 
sun-beams ! 

" An exquisite world of wonders is compli- 
cated even in the body of every little insect, — 
an ant, a gnat, a mite, which is scarce visible 
to the naked eye. Admirable engines ! which 
a whole academy of philosophers could never 
contrive ; which the nation of poets have neither 
art nor colours to describe ; nor has a world of 
mechanics skill enough to frame the plainest or 
coarsest of them. Their nerves, their muscles, 
and the minute atoms which compose the fluids 
fit to run in the little channels of their veins, 
escape the notice of the most sagacious mathe- 
matician, with all his aid of glasses. The 
active powers and curiosity of human nature 
are limited in their pursuit, and must be con- 
tent to lie down in ignorance. Hitherto shall 
ye go, and no farther. 

" It is a sublime and constant triumph over all 
the intellectual powers of man, which the great 
God maintains every moment in these inimi- 
table works of nature, in these impenetrable 
recesses and mysteries of divine art : and the 
month of May is the most shining season of 



108 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

this triumph. The flags and banners of almighty 
wisdom are now displayed round half the globe, 
and the other half waits the return of the sun 
to spread the same triumph over the southern 
world. This very sun in the firmament is 
God's prime minister in this wondrous world of 
beings ; and he works with sovereign vigour 
on the surface of the earth, and spreads his in- 
fluences deep under the clods to every root and 
fibre, moulding them into their proper forms by 
divine direction. There is not a plant, nor a 
leaf, nor one little branching thread above or 
beneath the ground, which escapes the eye or 
influence of this beneficent star : an illustrious 
emblem of the omnipresence and universal 
activity of the Creator." 

Quintilian observes, concerning Horace, that 
"he is remarkably pure and polished in his 
numbers, and eminent for his observation of 
the manners of men, and that he is almost the 
only lyric poet who merits our perusal ; for 
that he sometimes towers into sublimity, that 
he abounds with sweetness and elegance, and 
is wonderfully happy in the boldness of his 
figures and expressions :" and Petronius com- 
pliments him as distinguished for an elaborate 
or elegant felicity. 

Petronius may intend such a manner of com- 
position, as to thoughts and language, as appears 
perfectly spontaneous and unstudied, or the first 
free effusions of the poet, but yet mingled with 
such a propriety and elegance as to challenge 
the admiration and praise of every reader. An 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 109 

eagle-winged genius can with as much ease 
ascend and soar amid the heights of heaven, as 
a minuter mind can lift itself up on its feeble 
plumes a few inches above the common level 
of the ground. 

Are not the like praises due to Dr. Watts's 
compositions both in prose and verse ? Are 
there not in his writings such a happiness 
joined with elegance in his ideas, and such a 
choice of words and expressions in all respects 
correspondent to them, as to stamp them with 
an incomparable value, and so avouch them for 
his own as to distinguish them from all others ? 
Some specimens of this kind I shall produce ; 
and the rather as they may excite such as would 
wish to have the reputation of good writers to 
use their best endeavours to attain it, though, 
after all their exertions, they may never reach 
that full measure in which this excellence was 
possessed by the doctor. 

" Let God alone be the solid and everlasting 
rest and refuge of our souls, whose life is eter- 
nity, whose kingdom reigns over all, and his 
dominion is for ever and ever." 

" If your life should be lost in such a cause 
as this" (in attempts for the reformation of 
manners,) " it will be esteemed martyrdom in 
the sight of God, and shall be thus written 
down in the book of the wars of the Lord. 
Believe me, these red lines will look well in the 
records of heaven, when the judgment shall be 
set, and the books opened in the face of men 
and angels." 



110 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

" A wish or desire" (describing a wise and 
tender mother, and the dutiful regards of her 
daughters grown up under her care in return) 
" has the same power over them now, as a 
command had in their infancy and childhood ; 
for the command was ever dressed in the soft- 
est language of authority, and this made every 
act of obedience a delight, till it became an 
habitual pleasure." 

" Nothing could displease Phronissa" (so 
this good mother is called) " more than to hear 
a jest thrown upon natural infirmities. She 
thought there was something sacred in misery, 
and it was not to be touched with a rude hand." 
. " My soul is touched with such a divine in- 
fluence that it cannot rest while God with- 
draws, as the needle trembles and hunts after 
the hidden loadstone." 

" Such Christians as these" (such who are 
weak and too much under the influence of their 
passions) " live very much by sudden fits and 
starts of devotion, without that uniform and 
steady spring of faith and holiness which would 
render their religion more even and uniform, 
more honourable to God, and more comfortable 
to themselves. They are always high on the 
wing, or else lying moveless on the ground. 
They are ever in the heights or the depths, 
travelling on the bright mountains with the 
songs of heaven on their lips, or groaning and 
labouring through the dark valleys, and never 
walking onward as on an even plain toward 
heaven." 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. Ill 

" How easy will it be for our blessed Lord 
to make a full accomplishment of all his predic- 
tions concerning his kingdom ! Salvation shall 
spread through all the tribes and ranks of man- 
kind, as the lightning from heaven in a few 
moments would communicate a living flame 
through ten thousand lamps or torches placed 
in a proper situation and neighbourhood." 

" Faith kept in lively exercise can make 
roses spring out of the midst of thorns, and 
change the briers of the wilderness into the 
fruit-trees of paradise." 

" What need is there that I should wrap up 
the shining honours of my Redeemer in the 
dark and shadowy language of a religion" (the 
Jewish) " that is now for ever abolished ?" 

" Your own meditations can furnish you with 
many a delightful truth in the midst of so heavy 
a sorrow : for the covenant of grace has bright- 
ness enough in it to gild the most gloomy pro- 
vidence, and to that sweet covenant your soul 
is no stranger." 

" This book is of excellent use to lie on the 
table in a chamber of sickness, and now and 
then to take a sip of the river of life, which 
runs through it in a thousand little rills of peace 
and joy." 

" If my Christianity raises my pious passions 
in the church or in the closet, may the same 
Christian spirit be found in all my behaviour ! 
May it regulate my words and adorn my actions, 
that God, angels, and men may see the golden 
thread of religion running through my heart and 



112 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

life in a uniform manner in all times, places, 
and stations." 

" Come, my soul, rouse thyself from thy dull 
lethargic temper, shake off the dust which hangs 
heavy on thy better powers. Hast thou not 
been, long weary of such cold and frozen de- 
votion as is practised in this earthly state 1 
Hast thou not long complained of loving thy 
God so little, and of tasting so little of his love 1 
Come, raise thyself above these dull and des- 
picable scenes of flesh and sense, above all that 
is not immortal. Lift up thy head with cheer- 
fulness and eager hope, look out with longing 
eyes beyond the shadowy region of death, and 
salute the dawning of the eternal day ; stretch 
out thy arms of intense desire, and send a flight 
of devout wishes across the dark valley to meet 
the approaching joys of immortality." 

" Such a conversation and such a character 
made up of piety and virtue were prepared for 
the attacks of a fever with malignant and mortal 
symptoms. Slow and unsuspected were the 
advances of the disease till the powers of reason 
began to falter and retire, till the heralds of 
death had made their appearance, and spread 
on her bosom their purple ensigns." 

I might go on, and fill many a page with 
examples of the doctor's elaborate or elegant 
felicity, taken from his prose writings ; and then 
collect as great or a greater number of them 
from his poetry : but I shall restrain myself, 
especially as the next chapter will be employed 
in a survey of his poems, where the several 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 113 

citations from them, though introduced for other 
purposes, may serve as proofs how much he 
excelled in this prime beauty of composition. 
Suffice it only to add, that what was said con- 
cerning another person, may be with the great- 
est justice applied to the doctor, " that what- 
ever subject he treated on, and his ready ge- 
nius turned itself to all, he illuminated it with a 
lustre peculiar to himself, not unlike the golden 
ray of Titian, that diffusing itself through the 
whole tablet, avouched it for his own." 

His sermons, if I am right in my opinion, are 
the standards of useful preaching, such as is 
calculated to inform the minds, convince the 
consciences, impress the memories, and reach 
and command the hearts of mankind in those 
matters of infinite moment, the glory of God and 
their own everlasting salvation. 

To show that his sermons deserve these 
praises, let it be observed that there is nothing 
like a parade or ostentation of learning in them ; 
that there are no terms of grammar or logic un- 
intelligible to a common reader ; and that the 
language in which they are composed is rather 
the language of conversation than that of set 
compositions, though by no means beneath the 
dignity due to the pulpit and the press. His 
discourses are not made up of divisions broken 
into divisions till they appear little better than 
the numerous naked arms, boughs, and sprigs 
of a tree in the barrenness of the winter. His 
heads and particulars are comparatively but few, 
and they are enriched with much enlargement. 
8 



114 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Beautiful is their foliage, and plenteous and 
pleasant are their fruits. 

The c< branching sermon," as the doctor styles 
it, is what he ever avoided in his examples, as 
he very properly reprehends it in his writings. 
" It is a vain affectation,'* says he, " to draw out 
a long rank of particulars iii the same sermon 
under one general, and run up the number to 
eighteenthly, or seven and twentiethlv. Men 
who take delight in this sort of work will cut 
out all their sense into shreds, and ever}' thing 
they can say of any thing will be a new par- 
ticular. 

" This sort of folly and mistaken conduct 
appears weekly in Polyramus's lectures, and 
renders all his discourses lean and insipid. 
Whether it proceed from a mere barrenness of 
thought, and a native dryness of soul, that he is 
not able to vary his matter, and amplify beyond 
the formal topics of an analysis, or whether it 
arise from an affectation of such a way of talk- 
ing, it is hard to say ; but it is certain that the 
chief part, of the auditory are not over much 
profited or pleased. When I sit under his 
preaching I fancy myself brought into the val- 
ley of Ezekiel's vision. ' It was full of bones ; 
and, behold, there were very many in the val- 
ley ; and, lo, they were very dry,' Ezek. xxxvii, 
1,2. It is the variety of enlargement upon a 
few proper heads that clothes the dry bones 
with flesh, and animates them with blood and 
spirits : it is this that colours the discourse, 
makes it warm and strong, and renders the divine 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 115 

propositions bright and persuasive : it is this 
brings down the doctrine or the duty to the un- 
derstanding and conscience of the whole audi- 
tory, and commands the natural affections into 
the interest of the gospel; in short it is this 
which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
gives life and force, beauty and success, to a 
sermon, and provides food for souls. A single 
rosebush, or a dwarf pear, with all their leaves, 
flowers, and fruit about them, have more beauty 
and spirit in themselves, and yield more food 
and pleasure to mankind, than the innumerable 
branches, boughs, and twigs of a long hedge of 
thorns. The fruit will feed the hungry, and the 
flower will refresh the fainting, which is more 
than can be said of the thickest oak in Bashan, 
when it has lost its vital juice. It may spread 
its limbs, indeed, far and wide ; but they are 
naked, withered, and sapless." 

As the doctor in his sermons never ran into a 
barren superfluity of particulars, so, on the other 
hand, he cautiously shunned, and as much, I 
might say more, disliked the other extreme, 
that of harangue without any division of the 
subject. I will repeat in part what he has with 
just reason objected against this method of 
preaching, and of which I may be bold to say 
there is not a single instance in the vast multi- 
tude of his discourses. " Is it not possible," 
says he, " to forsake one extreme without fall- 
ing into a worse ? Is there no medium between 
a sermon made up of sixty dry particulars, and 
a long loose declamation without any distinction 



116 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

of the parts of it? Must the preacher divide 
his works by the breaks of a minute watch, or 
let it run on incessantly like the flowing stream 
of the hour glass, which measures his divinity ? 
Surely Fluvio preaches as though he knew no 
medium, and, having taken a disgust heretofore 
at one of Polyramus's lectures, he resolved his 
discourses should have no distinction of particu- 
lars in them. His language flows smoothly in 
a long connection of periods. The attention is 
detained in a gentle pleasure, and, to say the 
best thing possible of it, the hearer is soothed 
into something like divine delight ; but he can 
give the inquiring friend scarce any account 
what it was that pleased him. He retains a 
faint idea of the sweetness, but has forgot the 
sense. Tell me, Fluvio, is this the most effect- 
ual way to instruct ignorant creatures in the 
several articles of faith, and the various duties 
of the Christian life ? Will such a uniform 
flow of language imprint all the distinct parts 
of Christian knowledge on the mind in their 
best form and order ? Do you find such a gen- 
tle and gliding stream of words most powerful 
to call up the souls of sinners from their dan- 
gerous and fatal lethargy ? Will this indolent 
and moveless species of oratory make a thought- 
less wretch attend to matters of infinite moment? 
Can a long purling sound awaken a sleepy 
conscience, and give a perishing sinner just 
notions of his dreadful hazard ? Can it furnish 
his understanding and memory with all the 
awful and tremendous topics of our religion, 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 117 

when it scarce leaves any distinct impression 
of one of them in his soul ? Can you make the 
arrow wound where it will not stick ? Where 
all the discourse vanishes from the remembrance, 
can you suppose the soul to be profited or en- 
riched 1 When you brush over the closed eye- 
lids with a feather, did you ever find it give 
light to the blind ? Have any of your soft 
harrangues, your continued threads of silken elo- 
quence, ever raised the dead ? I fear your whole 
aim is to talk over the appointed number of 
minutes upon the subject, or to practise a little 
upon the gentler passions, without any concern 
how to give the understanding its due improve- 
ment, or furnish the memory with any lasting 
pleasure, or to make a knowing and religious 
Christian. Preachers talk reason and religion 
to their auditories in vain if they do not make 
the argument so short as to come within their 
grasp, and give a frequent rest to their thoughts. 
They must break the bread of life into pieces 
to feed children with it, and part their discourse 
into distinct propositions to give the ignorant a 
plain scheme of any one doctrine, and enable 
them to comprehend or retain it. Polyramus's 
auditors have some confusion in their know- 
ledge, but Fluvio's hearers have scarce any 
knowledge at all." 

It may be added concerning the doctor's ser- 
mons, that in proper places they are both cool 
and argumentative, and, again, earnest and 
pathetic. They are calculated to enlighten the 
understanding, convince and fix the judgment, 



118 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

and at the same time penetrate the heart, and 
diffuse a divine fervour through the soul. They 
are also scriptural, eminently so ; not to the ex- 
clusion of arguments that may be visible from 
the light of nature, or grow up from the dictates 
of conscience, but so as to pay a just honour to 
the oracles of God, the rule of our faith, the 
spring of our jo}^s, and our guide to the celestial 
glory. In a word, the doctor, considered as a 
minister, admirably answers to the character he 
has drawn of an able divine, and I am persuaded 
that it may be with the fullest truth and justice 
applied to himself. In this view I transcribe 
it from his excellent pages. " Ergates," says 
he, " is a workman that need not be ashamed. 
He preaches like a man who watches for our 
souls, as one who must give an account. He 
never affects to choose a very obscure text, lest 
he should waste too much of the hour in ex- 
plaining the literal sense of it. He reserves 
all those obscurities till they come in course at 
his seasons of public exposition ; for it is his 
opinion that preaching the gospel for the salva- 
tion of men carries in it a little different idea 
from a learned and critical exposition of the 
difficult texts of Scripture. He knows well how 
to use his logic in his composures ; but he calls 
no part of the words by their logical names, if 
there be any vulgar names which answer them. 
Reading and meditation have furnished him 
with extensive views of his subject, and his 
own good sense hath taught him to give suffi- 
cient reasons for every thing he asserts ; but he 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 119 

never uses one of them till a proof be needful. 
He is acquainted with the mistaken glosses of 
expositors ; but he thinks it needless to acquaint 
his hearers with them, unless there be evident 
danger they might run into the same mistake. 
He understands well what his subject is not, as 
well as what it is ; but when he would explain 
it to you, he never says, first, negatively, unless 
some remarkable error is at hand, and which 
his hearers may easily fall into for want of such 
a caution. Thus in five or ten minutes, at the 
most, he makes his way plain to the proposition 
or theme on which he designs to discourse ; 
and, being so wise as to know well what to say 
and what to leave out, he proportions every 
part of his work to his time : he enlarges upon 
the subject by way of illustration, till the truth 
becomes evident and intelligent to the weakest 
of his hearers ; then he confirms the point with 
a few convincing arguments, where the matter 
requires it, and makes haste to turn the doctrine 
into use and improvement. Thus the ignorant 
are instructed, and the growing Christians are 
established and improved. The stupid sinner 
is loudly awakened, and the mourning soul re- 
ceives consolation. The unbeliever is led to 
trust in Christ and his gospel ; and the impeni- 
tent and immoral are convinced and softened, 
are melted and reformed. The inward voice of 
the Holy Spirit joins with the voice of the 
minister ; the good man and the hypocrite have 
their proper portions assigned them, and the 
work of the Lord prospers in his hand. This 



120 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

is the usual course and manner of his ministry. 
This method being natural and easy, he casts 
many of his discourses into this form ; but he is 
no slave to forms and methods of any kind. He 
makes the nature of his subject and the neces- 
sity of his hearers the great rule to direct him 
what method he shall choose in every sermon, 
that he may better enlighten, convince, and 
persuade. Ergates well knows that where the 
subject itself is entirely practical, he has no 
need of the formality of long uses and exhorta- 
tions. He knows that practice is the chief de- 
sign of doctrine ; therefore he bestows most of 
his labour on this part of his office, and inter- 
mingles much of the pathetic under every par- 
ticular ; yet he wisely observes the special dan- 
gers of his flock, and the errors of the time he 
lives in, and now and then, though very seldom, 
he thinks it necessary to spend almost a whole 
discourse in mere doctrinal articles. Upon such 
an occasion he thinks it proper to take up a 
little larger part of his hour in explaining and 
confirming the sense of his text, and brings it 
down to the understanding of a child. At 
another time, perhaps, he particularly designs 
to entertain the few learned and polite among 
his auditors, and that, with this view, — that he 
may ingratiate his discourses with their ears, 
and may so far gratify their curiosity in this 
part of his sermon as to give an easier entrance 
for the more plain, necessary, and important 
parts of it into their hearts. Then he aims at 
and reaches the sublime, and furnishes an en- 






LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 121 

tertainment for the finest taste ; but he scarce 
ever finishes his sermon without compassion to 
the unlearned, and an address which may reach 
their consciences with the words of salvation. 
I have observed him sometimes after a learned 
discourse come down from the pulpit as a man 
ashamed, and quite out of countenance. He has 
blushed and complained to his intimate friends, 
lest he should be thought to have preached him- 
self, and' not Christ Jesus the Lord. He has 
been ready to wish he had entertained the audi- 
ence in a more unlearned manner, and on a 
more vulgar subject, lest the servants, and the 
labourers, and the tradesmen there should reap 
no advantage to their souls, and the important 
hour of worship be lost, as to their improvement. 
Well he knows, and keeps it upon his heart, 
that the middle and lower ranks of mankind, 
and people of an unlettered character, make up 
the greater part of the assembly ; therefore he 
is ever seeking how to adapt his thoughts, and 
his language, and far the greatest part of all his 
ministrations, to the instruction and profit of 
persons of common rank and capacity. It is in 
the midst of these he hopes to find his triumph, 
his joy, and crown, in the last great day ; for 
not many wise, not many noble, are called. 
There are so much spirit and beauty in his con- 
versation, that it is sought and desired by the 
ingenious men of his age ; but he carries a se- 
vere guard of piety always about him, which 
tempers the pleasant air of his discourse, even 
in the brightest and freest hours ; and before he ; 



122 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

leaves the place, if possible, he will leave some- 
thing of the savour of heaven there. In the 
parlour he carries on the design of the pulpit, 
but in so elegant a manner that it charms the 
company, and gives not the least occasion for 
censure. His polite acquaintance will some- 
times rally him for talking so plainly in his 
sermons, and sinking his good sense to so low 
a level. But Ergates is bold to tell the gayest 
of them, ' Our public business, my friend, is 
chiefly with the weak and ignorant ; that is, the 
bulk of mankind. The poor receive the gos- 
pel. The mechanics and day labourers, the 
women and children of my assembly have souls 
to be saved. I will imitate my blessed Re- 
deemer in preaching the gospel to the poor ; and 
learn of St. Paul to become all things to all men, 
that I may win souls, and lead many sinners 
to heaven by repentance, faith, and holiness.' " 
I shall conclude the chapter with some verses, 
if they deserve the name, from an eligiac poem 
of mine to the memory of the doctor, published 
soon after his decease, in which I have endea- 
voured a description of him as a minister. 

" While deep attention holds the listening throng, ; 
And piety and wisdom grace his mein, 
And mould his every accent, he fulfils 
His holy, high commission. Hark ! he sounds 
The trump of Sinai, and describes the curse 
Flamed, wing'd, and levell'd at the sinner's head; 
Warns, urges, begs him to escape the blow. 
Now Calvary's different scenes he sets in view, 
Unfolds the wonders of the cross, proclaims 
How Jesus spreads his willing arms V embrace 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 123 

The guilty soul, and sheds his vital blood 
To quench the fiery vengeance of the law, 
And full forgiveness with the skies procure. 
Now eloquence, like the fair vernal sun, 
Which melts the bands of winter's freezing reign, 
And o'er the world its smiling radiance throws, 
In lovely charms displays celestial truth, 
And stamps the Maker's image on the heart. 
Anon each vice in its detested forms 
Of horror glares malevolent and wild, 
The monstrous birth of hell, itself the food 
Of its own vipers, and by doom divine 
Condemn'd to the dire regions whence it rose. 

These were the themes that dwelt on Watts's tongue 

When he address'd the crowd, and this his zeal ! 

No trivial subject e'er debased his strain; 

Nor pomp of language smother d half his sense ; 

No learned disquisitions starved the mind ; 

No sharp invectives waked the soul to rage ; 

But all was weighty, amiable, sublime. 

Solemn, devout, as angels once were heard, 

When they, descending from their thrones above, 

Reveal'd to men the counsels of the skies.'' 



CHAPTER VII. 

The doctor's poetical writings are numerous, 
and all of them have considerable merit. They 
comprise a large collection of lyric poems, his 
book of" Hymns," his " Imitation of the Psalms," 
his " Songs for Children," and several pieces 
of poetry in his " Miscellaneous Thoughts." 

In his " Hotcb Lyric®" he gives a full license 
to his muse, and she soars without any kind of 
check or control, very frequently in Pindaric 
and once in Sapphic measures ; nor is she laid 



124 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

under the necessity of selecting such words as 
are level to the lowest capacities, as is the case 
as to his " Hymns," " Psalms," and li Songs for 
Children," that his end in writing them might 
not be defeated. 

" In some of the more elevated psalms," says 
the doctor, " I have given a little indulgence to 
my genius ; and if it should appear that I have 
aimed at the sublime, yet I have generally kept 
within the reach of an unlearned reader. I 
never thought the art of sublime writing consist- 
ed in flying out of sight ; nor am I of the mind 
of the Italian who said, ' Obscurity begets great- 
ness.' I have always avoided the language of 
the poets, where it did not suit the language of 
the gospel. In many of these composures I 
have just permitted my verse to rise above a flat 
and indolent style, yet I hope it is every where 
supported above the just contempt of the critics ; 
though I am sensible I have often subdued it 
below their esteem, because I would neither 
indulge any bold metaphors, nor admit of hard 
words, nor tempt an ignorant worshipper to sing 
without understanding." — -Preface to his " Imi- 
tation of the Psalms." 

In his preface to his " Hymns" the doctor 
speaks in the like manner. " The whole book 
is written," says he, " in four sorts of metre, 
and fitted to the most common tunes. I have 
seldom permitted a stop in the middle of a line, 
and seldom left the end of a line without one. 
The metaphors are generally sunk to the level 
of vulgar capacities. I have aimed at ease of 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 125 

numbers and smoothness of sound, and endea- 
voured to make the sense plain and obvious. 
If the verse appears so gentle and flowing as to 
incur the censure of feebleness, I may honestly 
affirm that sometimes it cost me labour to make 
it so ; some of the beauties of poesy are ne- 
glected, and some wilfully defaced. I have 
thrown out the lines that were too sonorous, 
and have given an allay to my verse, lest a 
more exalted turn of thought or language should 
darken or disturb the devotion." 

As to the doctor's " Songs for Children," 
they are drawn up in admirable condescension 
to their feeble capacities, and yet a rich vein of 
genius runs through them. Perhaps an equal 
instance cannot be found in any English writ- 
ings, or any others, where the easiest and 
plainest langiiage is accompanied with some of 
the finest strokes and brightest colours of poetry. 

I shall only select one instance, that of the 
comparison of the sun and a Christian, in the 
poem styled, " A Summer Evening." a poem so 
fine, that I once asked the doctor why he had 
not inserted it in his " Hora Lyrica ;" to which 
he answered, that it was not written when he 
published that collection of sacred verse. 

u How fine has the day been ! How bright was the sun ! 
How lovely and joyful the course that he run, 
Though he rose in a mist, when his race he begun, 

And there follow'd some droppings of rain ! 
But now the fair traveller's come to the west, 
His ravs are all gold, and his beauties are best ; 
He paints the skies gay as he sinks to his rest, 
And foretels a bright rising again. 



126 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Just such is the Christian. His course he begins, 
Like the sun in a mist, while he mourns for his sins, 
And melts into tears : then he breaks out and shines, 

And travels his heavenly way. 
But when he comes nearer to finish his race, 
Like a tine setting sun, he looks richer in grace, 
And gives a sure hope at the end of his days 

Of rising in brighter array. 

Such are the performances of this great man. 
How wide their diffusion has been through the 
Christian world, and in what esteem and honour 
they have been and are still held, their numer- 
ous editions, and the large and successive de- 
mands for them, abundantly prove ; and they 
will undoubtedly remain the unperishable monu- 
ments of his genius and piety. 

Many of the lyric poems were written in 
1694, when the doctor was only twenty years 
old ; and some of them bear even a prior date. 
In the course of time they increased, till they 
amounted to a considerable number, which were 
printed in 1706, when he was at the age of 
thirty-two. This collection falls short by about 
seventy poems inserted in the second and sub- 
sequent editions of his " Hora Lyric®" but it 
contains several pieces which are not to be 
found there. 

In the first edition of the lyric poems, there 
is an epistle to the doctor's sisters, S. and M. W., 
that is, to Sarah and Mary Watts, which, partly 
in prose, partly in verse, runs thus : — 

"Dear Sisters, — -Read the love pfmy heart 
in the first line of my letter, and believe it. I 






LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 127 

am much concerned to hear of my mother's 
continued weakness. We take our share of 
these painful disorders of nature which afflict 
her whom we honour and love. I know, also, 
that your hurries of business must be more than 
doubled thereby; but we are daily leaving care 
and sin behind us. The past temptations shall 
vex us no more. The months which are gone 
return not, and the sorrows which we hourly 
feel lessen the decreed number. Every pulse 
beats a moment of pain away, and thus by de- 
grees we arrive nearer to the sweet period of 
life and trouble. 

Bear up, my dear ones, through the ruffling storms 
Of a vain, vex'd world ; tread down the cares, 
Those ragged thorns which lie across the road, 
Nor spend a tear upon them. Trust me, sisters, 
The dew of eyes will make the briers grow. 
Nor let the distant phantom of delight 
Too long allure your gaze, or swell your hope 
To dangerous size. If it approach your feet, 
And court your hand, forbid th' intruding joy 
To sit too near your heart. Still may our souls 
Claim kindred with the skies, nor mix with dust 
Our better-born affections, leave the globe 
A nest of worms, and hasten to our home. 

O there are gardens of th' immortal kind, 
Which crown the heavenly Eden's rising hills 
With beauty and with sweets. No lurking mischief 
Dwells in the fruit, nor serpent twines the boughs ; 
The branches bend laden with life and bliss 
Ripe for the taste, but 'tis a steep ascent ; 
Hold fast the golden chain* let down from heaven ; 
'Twill help your feet and wings. I feel its force 

* The gospel. 



128 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Draw upward : fasten'd to the pearly gate, 

It guides the way unerring. Happy clew 

Through this dark wild ! 'Twas wisdom's noblest work, 

All join'd by power divine, and every link is love. 

" Sisters, accept the sudden rapture kindly. 
The muse is not awake every day. If she has 
a moment's release from the lethargy, see it is 
devoted to serve and please you. 

"June 15th, 1704." 

I have inserted this epistle, that it may be a 
witness both to the doctor's • filial duty and fra- 
ternal affection, and that I might take the op- 
portunity of showing how much he enlarged 
these verses in the subsequent edition of his 
" Lyric Poems," when, not improbably after 
the death of his sister Mary, he addressed the 
same epistle to his sister Sarah only, under the 
name of Sarissa ; for I take her to be the per- 
son intended. 

Bear up, Sarissa, through the ruffling storms 
Of a vain, vexing world ; tread down the cares, 
Those ragged thorns which lie across the road, 
Nor spend a tear upon them. Trust the muse, 
She sings experienced truth, this briny dew, 
This rain of eyes, will make the briers grow. 
We travel through a desert, and our feet 
Have measured a fair space, and left behind 
A thousand dangers, and a thousand snares 
Well 'scaped. Adieu, ye horrors of the dark, 
Ye finish'd labours, and ye tedious toils 
Of days and hours : the twinge of real smart, 
And the false terrors of ill-boding dreams, 
Vanish together, be alike forgot, 
For ever blended in one common grave. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 129 

Farewell, ye waxing and ye waning moons, 

Which we have watch'd behind the flying clouds 

On night's dark hill, or setting, or ascending, 

Or in meridian height. Then silence reign'd 

O'er half the world ; then ye beheld our tears, 

Ye witnessed our complaints, our kindred groans, 

Sad harmony, while with your beamy horns 

Or richer orb ye silver'd o'er the green 

Where trod our feet, and lent a feeble light 

To mourners. Now ye have fulrill'd your rounds, 

Those hours are fled, farewell ! Months that are gone/ 

Are gone for ever, and have borne away 

Each his own load. Our woes and sorrows past, 

Mountainous woes, still lessen as they fly 

Far off. So billows in a stormy sea, 

Wave after wave, a long succession roll 

Beyond the ken of sight. The sailors safe 

Look far astern till they have lost the storm, 

And shout their boisterous joys. A gentler muse 

Sings thy dear safety, and commands thy cares 

To dark oblivion ; buried deep in night 

Lose them, Sarissa, and assist my song. 

Awake thy voice ; sing how the slender line 
Of fate's immortal now divides the past 
From all the future, with eternal bars 
Forbidding a return. The past temptations 
No more shall vex us. Every grief we feel 
Shortens the destined number. Every pulse 
Beats a sharp moment of the pain away, 
And the last stroke will come. By swift degrees 
Time sweeps us off, and we shall soon arrive 
At life's sweet period. O celestial point, 
Which ends this mortal story ! 

But if a glimpse of light with flattering ray 
Break through the clouds of life, or wandering fir© 
Amid the shades invite your doubtful feet, 
Beware the dancing meteor. Faithless guide, 
Which leads the lonely pilgrim wide astray 
To bogs, and fens, and pits, and certain death. 
9 



130 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Should vicious pleasure take an angel form, 
And at a distance rise by slow degrees 
Treacherous to wind herself into your heart, 
Stand firm aloof, nor let the gaudy phantom 
Too long allure your gaze. The just delight, 
That Heaven indulges lawful, must obey 
Superior powers, nor tempt your thoughts too far 
In slavery to sense, nor swell your hope 
To dangerous size. If it approach your feet, 
And court your hand, forbid th' intruding joy 
To sit too near your heart. Still may our souls 
Claim kindred with the skies, nor mix with dust 
Their better-born affections, leave the globe 
A nest for worms, and hasten to our home. 

O there are gardens of th' immortal kind, 

Which crown the heavenly Eden's rising hills 

With beauty and with sweets : no lurking mischief 

Dwells in the fruit, nor serpent twines the boughs ; 

The branches bend laden with life and bliss 

Ripe for the taste, but 'tis a steep ascent. 

Hold fast the golden chain* let down from heaven ; 

'T will help your feet and wings. I feel its force 

Draw upward : fastened to the pearly gate, 

It guides the way unerring. Happy clew 

Through this dark wild ! 'Twas wisdom's noblest work, 

All join'd by power divine, and every link is love. 

It has been observed, that the doctor spent 
two years, after he had finished his academical 
studies at his father's at Southampton, in read- 
ing, meditation, and prayer, that is, the years 
1695 and 1696, the twenty-first and twenty- 
second years of his age. During this period he 
composed his Hymns, at least a great part of 
them. Mr. John Morgan, a minister of very 

* The gospel. 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 131 

respectable character, of Romsey, Hants, gives 
the following information : — " The occasion of 
the doctor's Hymns was this, as I had the account 
from his worthy fellow-labourer and colleague, 
the Rev. Mr. Price, in whose family I dwelt. 
The hymns which were sung at the Dissenting 
meeting at Southampton were so little to the gust 
of Mr. Watts that he could not forbear complain- 
ing of them to his father. The father bade him 
try what he could do to mend the matter. He 
did, and had such success in his first essay, that a 
second hymn was earnestly desired of him, and 
then a third, and fourth, &c. ; till in process of 
time there was such a number of them as to make 
up a volume." Let the reader reflect a moment 
what a spirit of devotion, and what a genius, the 
doctor discovered at such an early season of life, 
at the most but twenty-two years of age, as to 
compose at once such pious and beautiful hymns 
on such a variety of subjects ; and let him 
thence judge how well this excellent man filled 
up his time at his father's, and how much noble 
improvement was contained in the dedication of 
two years to the purposes of reading, meditation, 
and prayer. 

These hymns were not published till the year 
1707, as the doctor thought it best to send his 
Lyric Poems first into the world ; considering 
with himself, it is not improbable, that if these 
were accepted with mankind, they would pre- 
pare the way for his hymns ; but that, if the 
brighter productions of his muse did not meet 
with success, it might be prudent in him to with- 



132 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

hold from the public a work in which he had 
purposely reduced his poetry to a lower strain. 

The Lyric Poems were first printed in 1706, 
and the encouragement given to them (for a 
second edition appeared in 1709) no doubt deter- 
mined the doctor to venture his " Hymns" into 
the world, and accordingly they were published 
in the next year, 1707. This edition, including 
the several doxologies, and reckoning each 
one of them as a hymn, contains two hundred 
and twenty hymns ; and has an essay annexed 
to it toward the improvement of psalmody, or an 
inquiry how the psalms of David ought to be 
translated into Christian songs ; and how lawful 
and necessary it is to compose other hymns, ac- 
cording to the clearer revelations of the gospel, 
for the use of the Christian church. A second 
edition followed in 1709, which is said in the 
title-page to be corrected and much enlarged ; 
and so indeed it is, some of the hymns in the 
first edition having been considerably altered, and 
an accession of new hymns having been made to 
it ; but the doctor himself has given an account 
of the matter in what he styles " Advertise- 
ments concerning the second edition," which 
run thus : — 

" 1. There are almost one hundred and fifty 
new hymns added, and one or more suited to 
every theme and subject in divinity. Having 
found by converse with Christians what words 
or lines in the former made them less useful, I 
have not only made various corrections in them, 
but have -endeavoured to avoid the same mis* 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS. D. D. 133 

takes in all the new composures. And whereas 
many of the former were too particularly adapted 
to special frames and seasons of the Christian 
life, almost all which are added have a more 
general and extensive sense, and may be as- 
sumed and sung by most persons in a worship- 
ping congregation. 

" 2. About fourteen or fifteen psalms which 
were translated in the first edition are left out in 
this, because I intend, if God afford life and as- 
sistance, to convert the biggest part of the book 
of Psalms into spiritual songs for the use of 
Christians ; yet the same numbers are applied 
to the hymns, that there may be no confusion 
between the first and second editions." 

In a note of March 3, 1719-20, the doctor 
adds, " Since the sixth edition of this book" (the 
Hymns) " the author has finished what he had 
so long promised, namely, the Psalms of David, 
imitated in the language of the New Testament, 
which the world seems to have received with 
approbation by the sale of some thousands in a 
year's time.* There the reader will find those 
psalms which were left out of all the later edi- 
tions of these Hymns in their proper places. It 
is presumed that book, in conjunction with this, 
may appear to be such a provision for psalmody 
as to answer most occasions of the Christian's 
life ; and, if an author's own opinion may be 
taken, he esteems it the greatest work that ever 
he has published, or ever hopes to do, for the 
use of the churches." 

* His Psalms were first printed in 1719. 



134 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

As to the usefulness of the doctor's Psalms 
and Hymns, or how conducive they all are to 
the promotion of piety and virtue, this is seen 
and confessed by all ; and I am very certain I 
should express the sentiments of thousands and 
ten thousands, were he still living, if I should 
address to him the verses of Mr. Prior to Dr. 
Sherlock, on his Discourse on Death; referring 
to his Lyric Poems, Psalms, Hymns, and Songs 
for Children. 

" Thee youth shall study, and no more engage 
Their flattering wishes for uncertain age; 
No more with fruitless care, and cheated strife, 
Chase fleeting pleasure through this maze of life, 
Finding the wretched all they here can have 
But present food, and but a future grave ; 
Each great as Philip's victor son shall view 
This abject world, and weeping ask a new. 

" Decrepit age shall read thee, and confess 
Thy labours can assuage where medicines cease ; 
Shall bless thy words, their wounded souls' relief, 
The drops that sweeten the last dregs of life ; 
Shall look to heaven, and laugh at all beneath, 
Own riches gather'd trouble, fame a breath, 
And life an ill, whose only cure is death. 

" Thy even thoughts with so much plainness flow, 
Their sense untutor'd infancy may know ; 
Yet to such height is all that plainness wrought, 
Wit may admire, and letter'd pride be taught : 
Easy in words thy style, in sense sublime, 
On its blest steps each age and sex may rise, 
*Tis like the ladder in the patriarch's dream, 
Its foot on earth, its height above the skies ; 
Diffused its virtue, boundless is its power, 
'Tis public health, and universal cure, 
Of heavenly manna 'tis a second feast, 
A nation's food, and all to every taste," 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 135 

The piety and talent displayed by Dr. Watts 
in his various writings, and the holy and bene* 
volent objects to which they were directed, could 
not fail to procure for him a large share of pub- 
lic respect, and especially from the wise and 
good. Many testimonies to his worth might be 
selected from contemporary writers ; but two 
must at present suffice. 

Prefixed to the German translation of his 
Discourses on Death and Heaven, published at 
Halle in Saxony, 1727, is the following pre- 
face : — 

" Here is communicated to you a treatise in 
which the late pious Mr. Francke, professor of 
divinity at Halle, found so much edification and 
satisfaction, that he engaged an able person to 
translate it into our German tongue, to make 
others partake of the same spiritual benefit. 
This treatise consists of two funeral sermons 
which an English divine, who perhaps is still 
living, composed on the death of two eminent 
persons, which he enlarged for their publica- 
tion. The subject of the first is ' death,' taken 
from 1 Cor. xv, 26. The second is 'heaven,' 
from Heb. xii, 23. From this last he takes an 
occasion of flying with his thoughts into the 
blessed mansions of the just made perfect, by 
giving us not only a very probable and beautiful 
idea of the glory of a future life in general, but 
also an enumeration of the many sorts of enjoy- 
ments and pleasures which are to be met with 
there. 

" Though the first sermon contains many ele- 



136 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

gant passages worthy to be read, yet the latter 
seems to be a more elaborate piece, because it 
sets the doctrine of eternal life in a greater light, 
and enriches it with many probable inferences 
from the word of God. He proposes his excel- 
lent thoughts in most emphatical terms, in that 
beautiful order and with such a vivacity of style 
that he keeps the reader in a continual atten- 
tion, and an eager desire to read on. It is plain 
the author's mind was so taken up with the 
beauty of heaven that his mouth could not but 
speak the abundance of his heart. There is a 
secret unction in his expressions which leaves 
a sweet savour in the reader's heart, and raises 
in him a desire after the blessed society he 
describes; and though the reader should not 
entirely agree with the author's notions, yet he 
will not peruse this treatise without a particular 
edification and blessing. I cannot deny but the 
author's conjectures may be sometimes carried 
a little too far ; but that doth not prejudice the 
subject in the least. Besides, he is generally so 
happy as to find some arguments for his pro- 
bable notions in the word of God, and to answer 
very dexterously all the objections which can 
be made against him. 

" May the ever-living God give a blessing to 
this work, and grant that those sweet and relish- 
ing truths proposed in these leaves may make 
such an impression on the minds of the readers 
as those noble truths deserve ! May he prevent 
all abuse of this delightful subject, and never 
permit it to be turned into a mere dry or fruit- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 137 

less speculation ; but may he inflame every 
reader with an holy desire after a blessed eter- 
nity, and rouse and excite all those who have 
not yet begun the paths of salvation to enter 
into them without delay, that they may not rest 
in a mere delightful prospect of the land of Ca- 
naan, nor be for ever excluded by their unbelief 
from the eternal enjoyment of it ! 

" John Jacob Rambach, 
Halle, July 10, 1727. "S. Theol. Prof. Ordinary 

The following is the dedication by Dr. Philip 
Doddridge of his very valuable treatise entitled, 
"The Rise and Progress of Religion in the 
Soul." 

" To the Rev. Dr. Isaac Watts. 

" Rev. and Dear Sir, — With the most affec- 
tionate gratitude and respect I beg leave to pre- 
sent to you a book, which owes its existence to 
your request, its copiousness to your plan, and 
much of its perspicuity to your review, and to 
the use I made of your remarks on that part of 
it which your health and leisure would permit 
you to examine. I address it to you, not to beg 
your patronage to it, for of that I am already 
well assured, and much less from any ambition 
of attempting your character, for which, if I 
were more equal to the subject, I should think 
fals a very improper place, but chiefly from a 
secret delight which I find in the thought of 
being known to those whom this may reach as 
one whom you have honoured not only with your 
friendship, but with so much of your esteem 



138 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

and approbation too as must substantially appear 
in committing a work to me, which you had 
yourself projected as -one of the most consider- 
able services of your life. 

" I have long thought the love of popular 
applause a meanness, which a philosophy far 
inferior to that of our divine Master might have 
taught us to conquer. But to be esteemed by 
eminently great and good men to whom we are 
intimately known, appears to me not only one 
of the most solid attestations of some real 
worth, but, next to the approbation of God and 
our own consciences, one of its most valuable 
rewards. It will, I doubt not, be found so in 
that world to which spirits like yours are tend- 
ing, and for which, through divine grace, you 
have obtained so uncommon a degree of ripe- 
ness. And permit me, sir, while I Avrite this, 
to refresh myself with the hope that when that 
union of hearts which has so long subsisted 
between us, shall arrive to its full maturity and 
endearment there, it will be matter of mutual 
delight to recollect that you have assigned me, 
and that I have in some degree executed, a task 
which may, perhaps, under the blessing of God, 
awaken and improve religious sentiments in the 
minds of those we leave behind us, and of others 
that may arise after us in this vain, transitory, 
and ensnaring world. 

" Such is the improvement you have made 
of your capacities for service, that I am fully 
persuaded heaven has received very few in 
these latter ages, who have done so much to 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 139 

serve its interests here below : few who have 
laboured in this best of causes with equal zeal 
and success ; and therefore I cannot but join 
with all who wish well to the Christian interest 
among us, in acknowledging the goodness of 
Providence to you and to the church of Christ, 
in prolonging a life at once so valuable and so 
tender to such an advanced period. With them, 
sir, I rejoice that God hath given you to pos- 
sess, in so extraordinary a degree, not only the 
consciousness of intending great benefit to the 
world, but the satisfaction of having effected it, 
and seeing such a harvest already springing up, 
I hope, as an earnest of a more copious increase 
from thence. With multitudes more, I bless 
God that you are not, in the evening of so 
afflicted and so laborious a day, rendered en- 
tirely incapable of serving the public from the 
press and from the pulpit ; and that, amid the 
pain which your active spirit feels when these 
pleasing services suffer long interruption from 
bodily weakness, it may be so singularly re- 
freshed by reflecting on that sphere of extensive 
usefulness in which by your writings you con- 
tinually move. 

" I congratulate you, dear sir, that while you 
are, in a multitude of families and schools of 
the lower class, condescending to the humble 
yet important work of forming infant minds to 
the first rudiments of religious knowledge and 
devout impressions by your various Catechisms 
and Divine Songs, you are also daily reading 
lectures of logic and other useful branches of 



140 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

philosophy to studious youth ; and this not only 
in private academies, but in the most public and 
celebrated seats of learning, not merely in Scot- 
land, and in our American colonies, where for 
some peculiar considerations it might be most 
naturally expected, but through the amiable 
candour of some excellent men and accom- 
plished tutors, in our English universities too. 
I congratulate you that you are teaching, no 
doubt, hundreds of ministers and private Chris- 
tians by your sermons and other theological 
tracts, so happily calculated to diffuse through 
their minds that light of knowledge, and through 
their hearts that fervour of piety, which God 
has been pleased to enkindle in your own. 
But, above all, I congratulate you, that by your 
sacred poetry, especially by your Psalms and 
your Hymns, you are leading the worship, and, 
I trust, also animating the devotion of myriads 
in our public assemblies every Sabbath, and in 
their families and closets every day. This, 
sir, at least so far as it relates to the service 
of the sanctuary, is an unparalleled favour by 
which God hath been pleased to distinguish 
you, I may boldly say it, beyond any of his 
servants now upon earth. Well may it be es- 
teemed a glorious equivalent, and indeed much 
more than an equivalent, for all those views of 
ecclesiastical preferment to which such talents, 
learning, virtues, and interest, might have enti- 
tled you in an establishment ; and I doubt not 
but you joyfully accept it as such. 

" Nor is it easy to conceive in what circum- 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 141 

stances you could on any supposition have been 
easier and happier than in that pious and truly 
honourable family in which, as I verily believe, 
in special indulgence both to you and to it, 
Providence has been pleased to appoint that 
you should spend so considerable a part of your 
life. It is my earnest prayer that all the re- 
mainder of it may be serene, useful, and plea- 
sant. And as, to my certain knowledge, your 
compositions have been the singular comfort *of 
many excellent Christians, some of them num- 
bered among my dearest friends, on their dying 
beds, for I have heard stanzas of them repeated 
from the lips of several, who were doubtless, in 
a few hours, to begin the song of Moses and 
the Lamb ; so I hope and trust that, when God 
shall call you to that salvation for which your 
faith and patience have so long been waiting, 
he will shed around you the choicest beams of 
his favour, and gladden your heart with conso- 
lations like those which you have been the 
happy instrument of administering to others. 

" In the meantime, sir, be assured that I am 
not a little animated in the various labours to 
which Providence has called me, by reflecting 
that I have such a contemporary, and especially 
such a friend, whose single presence would be 
to me as that of a cloud of witnesses here 
below to awaken my alacrity in the race which 
is set before me. And I am persuaded that, 
while I say this, I speak the sentiment of 
many of my brethren, even of various denomi- 
nations ; a consideration which I hope will do 



142 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

something toward reconciling a heart so gene- 
rous as yours to a delay of that exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory which is now so nearly 
approaching. Yes, my honoured friend, you 
will, I hope, cheerfully endure a little longer 
continuance in life amid all its infirmities, from 
an assurance that while God is pleased to main- 
tain the exercise of your reason, it is hardly pos- 
sible you should live in vain to the world or your- 
self. Every day and every trial is brightening 
your crown, and rendering you still more and 
more meet for an inheritance among the saints 
in light. Every word which you drop from the 
pulpit has now surely its peculiar weight. The 
eyes of many are on their ascending prophet, 
eagerly intent that they may catch, if not his 
mantle, at least some divine sentence from his 
lips, which may long guide their ways and 
warm their hearts. This solicitude your friends 
bring into those happy moments in which they 
are favoured with your converse in private ; 
and, when you are retired from them, your 
prayers, I doubt not, largely contribute toward 
guarding your country, watering the church, and 
blessing the world. Long may they continue 
to answer these great ends ! And permit me, 
sir, to conclude with expressing my cheerful 
confidence that in these best moments you are 
often particularly mindful of one who so highly 
esteems, so greatly needs, and so warmly re- 
turns that remembrance as, reverend sir, 

" Your most affectionate brother, 
"Northampton, Dec. 13, 1744. P. Doddridge." 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 143 

In the year 1728 the universities both of 
Edinburgh and Aberdeen, in a most respectful 
manner, without his knowledge, conferred the 
degree of Doctor of Divinity upon Dr. Watts, 
a mark of distinction to which he was justly 
entitled. Nor can I omit that act of honour 
which the late speaker of the House of Com- 
mons, the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, 
Esq., paid this venerable man. Not long be- 
fore the doctor's death, taking with him Dr. 
Jabez Earle, and Dr. Joseph Stennett, two emi- 
nent dissenting ministers, in his coach, he 
made a visit to the doctor at Stoke Newington, 
for the purpose of gratifying himself with the 
sight of so great and good a man, whom he held 
in the highest esteem. The Speaker declared 
to me that when he saw him he thought he saw 
a man of God ; and in the last visit but one I 
made Mr. Onslow, (for I had the honour of an 
intimacy with him,) he mentioned the affair 
afresh, and devoutly cried out, " My soul where 
his soul now is !"* 

* It is pleasing to trace the influence of religion upon 
persons who occupy the more elevated stations in society. 
The following anecdote, which is given in the Journal of 
John Nelson, is a beautiful illustration of the sentiments 
with which the eminent man here mentioned is said to have 
contemplated the character of Dr. Watts. About the 
period here referred to, Mr. Nelson was employed as a 
mason at the house of Lord Onslow, near Guildford, in Sur- 
rey. " One day," he says, " the speaker of the House of 
Commons came to visit my lord : and taking a view of the 
work, he asked me many questions about it, which I an- 
swered as well as I could. He said, ' This is a fine house, 



144 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The doctor, in his sermon on the " Privilege 
of the Living above the Dead," observes, " that 
a calm and cheerful readiness for a removal out 
of this world, is an honour done to Christ and 
his gospel here on earth which belongs not to 
the heavenly state. Death in the course of 
nature," says he, " as well as by the hands of 
violence, hath always something awful and for- 
midable in it. Flesh and blood shrink and 
tremble at the appearance of a dissolution, and 
Christ delights to see the grace he has wrought 
in the saints gain the ascendency over flesh 
and blood, and conquer the terrors of death and 
the grave. He loves to see his faithful follow- 
ers maintain a serene soul, and venture into the 
invisible world, upon the merit of his blood, 
with holy fortitude and a cheerful faith. It is 
only the lively Christian that can die, and glo- 
rify God his Saviour in that great and important 
hour. The saints who are arrived at heaven 
dwell in the temple of God, and shall go no 
more out. They are for ever possessed of life 
and immortality. There are no more deaths 
and dangers to encounter, no more terrors to 
engage their conflict. Death is the last enemy 
of all the saints ; and, when the Christian meets 

and a fine estate of land about it ! But what will it sig- 
nify 1 For a piece of land six feet long and three broad 
will fit me shortly.' He then fetched a deep sigh, went 
away, and walked alone among the trees. 5 ' 



F 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 145 

it with sacred courage, he gives that honour to 
the Captain of his salvation which the saints in 
glory can never give, and which he himself 
can never repeat. Dying with faith and forti- 
tude is a noble conclusion of a life of zeal and 
service. It is the very last duty on earth. 
When that is done, then heaven begins." To 
the same purpose he speaks in another dis- 
course. 

" It is a glory," says he, " to the gospel when 
we can lie down with courage, in hope of its 
promised blessings. It is an honour to our com- 
mon faith, when it overcomes the terrors of 
death, and raises the Christian to a song of tri- 
umph in the view of the last enemy. It is a 
new crown put upon the head of our Redeemer, 
and a living cordial put into the hands of mourn- 
ing friends in our dying hour, when w r e can 
take our leave of them with holy fortitude re- 
joicing in the salvation of Christ. No sooner 
does he call but we are ready, and can answer 
with holy transport, ' Lord, I come."' 

What the doctor so justly and properly de- 
scribes, he himself exemplified in his last hours. 
As his day of life was eminently bright and 
useful, so its setting was remarkably serene and 
happy. His weakness was such as greatly to 
interrupt him in the pursuit of his studies, though 
not so great as to deprive him of his intellect, 
or to leave him to any strange chimeras of 
fancy, which I have frequently heard, but with- 
out any kind of ground, attributed to him. How 
it came to pass I know not, but it has so hap- 
10 



146 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

pened, that reports have been raised, propagated, 
and currently believed concerning the doctor, 
that he has imagined such things concerning 
himself as would prove, if they w r ere true, that 
he sometimes suffered a momentary eclipse of 
his intellectual faculties. But these reports 
were absolutely false and groundless. He saw 
his approaching dissolution with a mind per- 
fectly calm and composed, without the least 
alarm or dismay ; and I never could discover, 
though I was frequently with him, the least 
shadow of a doubt as to his future everlasting 
happiness, or any thing that looked like an un- 
willingness to die. How have I known him 
recite, with a self-application, those words in 
Heb. x, 36 : " Ye have need of patience, that 
after ye have done the will of God, ye may re- 
ceive the promise !" And how have I heard 
him, upon leaving the family after supper, and 
withdrawing to rest, declare, with the sweetest 
composure, that if his Master was to say to him 
he had no more work for him to do, he should 
be glad to be dismissed that night! I once 
heard him say, with a kind of impatience, per- 
haps such as might in some degree trespass 
upon that submission we ought at all times to 
pay to the divine will, " I wonder why the great 
God should continue me in life, when I am in- 
capable of performing him any farther service. " 
" His trust in God," says Dr. Jennings, in his 
funeral discourse, " through Jesus the Mediator, 
remained unshaken to the last." I know a per- 
son who enjoyed the doctor's company an hour 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 147 

or two a few months before his death, when his 
discourse was most devout and heavenly, and 
he particularly spoke of our dependance on 
Christ, observing that " if we parted w^ith him, 
what would become of our hopes ?" About the 
same time, I suppose it might be nearer his 
dissolution, I came into his study, found him 
alone, and sat down for conversation with him. 
With high pleasure he spoke concerning the 
Scripture method of salvation. Not a word did 
he say of what he had been or done in life, but 
his soul seemed to be swallowed up with grati- 
tude and joy for the redemption of sinners by 
Jesus Christ. I have reason to regret that, upon 
leaving his company, I did not commit to writ- 
ing the very words in which he expressed him- 
self ; but my recollection sufficiently serves me 
to authenticate this anecdote ; and perhaps in 
all his days he was never in a frame of mind 
in which he more fully answered the descrip- 
tion of the Apostle Peter, when he says, refer- 
ring to our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter i, 8, 
" Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, 
though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye 
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." 
He has been heard to say, " I bless God I can 
lie down with comfort at night, not being solicit- 
ous whether I awake in this world or another." 
Again : "I should be glad to read more, yet not 
in order to be confirmed more in the truth of 
the Christian religion, or in the truth of its pro- 
mises ; for I believe them enough to venture an 
eternity on them." 



148 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

When he was almost worn out by his infirmi- 
ties, he observed, in conversation with a friend, 
that he remembered an aged minister used to 
say, that the most learned and knowing Chris- 
tians, when they come to die, have only the 
same plain promises of the gospel for their sup- 
port, as the common and unlearned ; " and so," 
said he, " I find it. They are the plain promises 
of the gospel which are my support ; and I bless 
God they are plain promises, which do not re- 
quire much labour or pains to understand them ; 
for I can do nothing now but look into my Bible 
for some promise to support me, and live upon 
that." 

When he has found his spirit tending to im- 
patience, and ready to complain, he would thus 
check himself: " The business of a Christian 
is to bear the will of God, as well as to do it. 
If I were in health, I could only be doing that ; 
and that I may do now. The best thing in 
obedience is a regard to the will of God ; and 
the way to that is to get our inclinations and 
aversions as much mortified as we can." 

I visited the doctor on his death-bed, where I 
found him exceedingly weak and low, the lamp 
of life very feebly glimmering in its last decay ; 
but he was still in the perfect possession of his 
understanding.* He told me, in answer to my 

* Some time after Dr. Watts's death, Mr. Toplady pub- 
lished a fabulous account of this eminent man. He tells 
us " that little more than half an hour before Dr. Watts 
expired he was visited by his dear friend Mr. Whitefield. 
The latter asking him how he found himself, the dying 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 149 

inquiry, whether he had any pain in his body, 
that he had none, and acknowledged it as a 
great mercy. To my second question, how it 
was with his soul ; whether all was comfortable 
there ; he replied that it was ; and confessed it 
to be a great mercy. 

Mr. Joseph Parker, a person of most respect- 
able character, and the doctor's amanuensis for 
about one and twenty years, sent the following 
intelligence concerning him to his brother at 
Southampton, only the day before his death, 
Nov. 24, 1748 : — " I wrote to you by the last 
post, that we apprehended my master very near 
his end ; and that we thought it not possible he 

doctor answered, ' Here am 1, one of Christ's waiting ser- 
vants.' Soon after a medicine was brought in, and Mr. 
Whitefield assisted in raising him up upon the bed that he 
might with more conveniency take the draught. On the 
doctor's apologizing for the trouble he gave Mr. Whitefield, 
the latter replied, with his usual amiable politeness, 'Sure- 
ly, my dear brother, I am not too good to wait on a wait- 
ing servant of Christ.' Soon after Mr. Whitefield took 
his leave ; and often regretted since that he had not pro- 
longed his visit, which he would certainly have done could 
he have foreseen that his friend was but within half an hour's 
distance from the kingdom of glory." The whole of this 
story is fictitious ; for Mr. Whitefield never visited the 
doctor in his last illness or confinement, nor had any con- 
versation or interview with him for some months before his 
decease. It were to be wished that greater care was 
practised by the writers of other persons' lives, that illu- 
sions might not take place, and obtain the regards of truth, 
and lay historians who come after them under the unpleas- 
ing necessity of dissolving their figments, and thereby in 
consequence evincing to the world how little credit is due 
to their relations. 



150 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

should be alive when the letter reached your 
hands ; and it will no doubt greatly surprise you 
to hear that he still lives. We ourselves are 
amazed at it. He passed through the last night 
in the main quiet and easy ; but for five hours 
would receive nothing within his lips. I was 
down in his chamber early in the morning, and 
found him quite sensible. I begged he would 
be pleased to take a little liquid to moisten his 
mouth ; and he received at my hand three tea- 
spoonfuls ; and has done the like several times 
this day. Upon inquiry, he told me he lay easy, 
and his mind peaceful and serene. I said to 
him this morning, that he had taught us how to 
live, and was now teaching us how to die, by 
his patience and composure ; for he has been 
remarkably in this frame for several days past. 
He replied, ' Yes.' I told him I hoped he ex- 
perienced the comfort of these words, 1 1 will 
never leave thee, nor forsake thee.' He an- 
swered, ' I do.' The ease of body and calmness 
of mind which he enjoy 3 is a great mercy to 
him and to us. His sick chamber has nothing 
terrifying in it. He is an upright man ; and I 
doubt not but his end will be peace. We are 
ready to use the words of Job, and say, - We 
shall seek him in the morning, but he shall not 
be.' But God only knows, by whose power he 
is upheld in life, and for wise purposes no 
doubt. He told me he liked I should be with 
him. All other business is put off, and I am in 
the house night and day. I would administer all 
the relief that is in my power. He is worthy 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 151 

of all that can be done for him. I am your very- 
faithful and truly afflicted servant." 

On the 26th of November, the day after the 
doctor's decease, Mr. Parker wrote again to the 
same person : " At length the fatal news is come. 
The spirit of the good man, my dear master, 
took its flight from the body to worlds unseen 
and joys unknown yesterday in the afternoon, 
without a struggle or a groan. My Lady Abney 
and Mrs. Abney are supported as well as we 
can reasonably expect. It is a house of mourn- 
ing and tears ; for I have told you before now 
that we all attended upon him and served him 
from a principle of love and esteem. May God 
forgive us all, that we have improved no more 
by him, while we enjoyed him !" 

Thus did this great and good man, after an 
eminently holy and useful life, finish his course 
with joy ; and the last sight of him to the eye of 
faith was not unlike that which the corporeal 
eye of Elisha had of Elijah, when he ascended 
in triumph to the heavenly glory. May I not 
apply his delightful description of a saint launch- 
ing into eternity to the doctor himself ? 

" Thus Watts' s soul forsakes this mortal stand 
Fearless, when the great Master gives command : 
Death is the storm, she smiles to hear it roar, 
And bids the tempest waft her from the shore ; 
Then with a skilful helm she sweeps the seas, 
And manages the raging storm with ease : 
Her faith can govern death : she spreads her wings 
Wide to the wind, and as she sails she sings, 
And loses by degrees the sight of mortal things. 



152 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

As the shores lessen, so her joys arise, 

The waves roll gentler and the tempest dies ; 

Now vast eternity fills all her sight, 

She floats on the broad deep with infinite delight, 

The seas for ever calm, the skies for ever bright." 

I saw the corpse of this excellent man in his 
coffin. The countenance appeared quite placid, 
like a person fallen into a gentle sleep, or such 
as the spirit might be supposed to leave behind 
it upon its willing departure to the celestial 
happiness. How justly might I have said at 
the moment I beheld his dead earth, as related 
to such a holy soul, as the doctor does in an 
epitaph upon a pious young man, who was re- 
moved from our world after a lingering and 
painful illness! 

~" So sleep the saints and cease to groan, 
When sin and death have done their worst : 
Christ has a glory like his own 
Which waits to clothe their waking dust." 

Or might I not have broken out, upon the sight 
of his lifeless clay, and in the faith of futr 
glory, in the lines, somewhat varied, of IV 
Prior to Dr. Sherlock? 

" Thus in full age and hoary holiness 
Thou hast ascended to thy promised bliss ; 
Untouched thy tomb, uninjured be thy dust, 
As thine own fame among the future just, 
Till in last sounds the dreadful trumpet speaks, 
Till judgment calls and quicken'd nature wakes, 
Till through the utmost earth and deepest sea 
Our scatter 1 d atoms find their destined way 
In haste to clothe their kindred souls again, 
Perfect our state, and build immortal man ; 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 153 

Then fearless thou, who well sustain'd the fight, 
To paths of joy and tracks of endless light 
Lead up all those who heard thee and believed ; 
'Midst thine own flock, great shepherd, be received, 
And glad all heaven with myriads thou hast saved." 

His stature was beneath the common standard, 
perhaps not above five feet, or at most five feet 
two inches ; but without any thing like a deform- 
ity in his frame. His body was spare and lean, 
his face oval, his nose aquiline, his complexion 
fair and pale, his forehead low, his cheek bones 
rather prominent, but his countenance, on the 
whole, byno means disagreeable. His eyes were 
small and gray ; and, whenever he was attentive 
or eager, amazingly piercing and expressive. His 
voice was rather too line and slender, at least 
would have been thought so if he had been of a 
larger mould; but it was regular, audible, and 
pleasant. 

He had a most vivid and abounding genius, 
joined with the most patient indefatigable indus- 
try ; a quick conception, with a tenacious memory ; 
a great mind strengthened and cultivated by 
study, and replenished with the treasures of a 
vast and noble literature. 

As a proof of his faithful memory, I well re- 
member his repeating in conversation several 
verses of Juvenal without the least hesitation. 
When he had ended them, I asked him how long 
it might be since he had read that poet. His an- 
swer was, "Never since I was a young man." 

Dr. Jennings, in his funeral discourse, very 
justly observes concerning him, "that though 



154 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

that which gave him the most remarkable pre- 
eminence was the extent and sublimity of his 
imagination, yet how few have excelled or even 
equalled him in quickness of apprehension, and 
solidity of judgment!" 

The late Lord Barrington, in a letter to the 
doctor, giving his opinion of one of his then re- 
cent publications, tells him, " that he was singu- 
larly happy in the distinctness of his thoughts, 
and the clearness of his expression; and that no 
one could exceed him in a felicity of ranging 
the ideas he would convey to us." He then 
adds, " The scheme you have proposed could 
come only from a man of great acuteness and 
intense thought. The whole work shows a vast 
reading of the Bible, and that you have every 
text in it ready for use." 

He had the copious and heavenly knowledge 
of the divine, the clear perception and patient 
thinking of the philosopher, and the rich imagi- 
nation and sublime rapture of the poet ; one of 
which characters, in such a high degree as he 
possessed it, might have been sufficient to have 
raised him an immortal fame. He was pious 
without ostentation ; devout without enthusiasm ; 
humble without disguise ; patient without faint- 
ing or complaint ; faithful without morosity ; 
firm without rigour ; zealous without fury ; and 
studious without gloom or stiffness. With equal 
truth, I might add, that he was pleasant without 
levity ; mild without meanness ; learned without 
pride ; polite without dissimulation ; bountiful 
without vanity or imprudence ; and pure and 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 155 

temperate without the least shadow of the con- 
trary vices. In his whole course of life he ap- 
peared to have a single eye to the glory of God, 
and the good of men. The gospel of salvation 
he diffused in a wide extent from the pulpit, 
but in a much wider from the press ; and he 
enforced and adorned what he recommended by 
an uncommon exactness of life, and sanctity of 
manners. He was a living epistle of his Lord 
and Saviour, deeply inscribed with his honours, 
and known and read of all men. Perhaps very 
few of the descendants of Adam have made 
nearer approaches to angels in intellectual 
powers and divine dispositions than Dr. Watts ; 
and among the numerous stars which have 
adorned the hemisphere of the Christian church, 
he has shone and will shine an orb of the first 
magnitude. 

_ A Latin epitaph, of which the following is a 
translation, was written by the Rev. Daniel 
Turner : — 

Sacred to the Memory of Isaac Watts, D. D. 

This monumental inscription 

Commemorates the very Reverend 

Isaac Watts, D. D., 

The man so justly celebrated 

By universal fame. 

He had a weak and languid body, 

But a soul akin to heaven, 

Vigorous, sagacious, 

And prepared for every thing excellent ; 



156 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

Adorned with universal literature, 

And, what is still more, 

With real piety. 

He lived an illustrious example 

Of pure benevolence, 

Extraordinary humility, 

And every kind of virtue ; 

Greatly beloved both of God and man. 

He was a preacher 

Of admirably sweet and powerful elocution ; 

A sincere lover 

And pacific promoter 

Of truth ; 

For many years 

A faithful and vigilant pastor 

Of a Christian society 

In London : 

The excellent poet, 

Who, inspired by a muse truly divine, 

Gave us the Psalms of David in English verse, 

Happily adapted to the Christian state and 

Worship, 

And published besides many pieces 

In sublime, polite, and harmonious numbers, 

Some sacred to virtue and friendship, 

And others to the name and grace 

Of the Lord Jesus ; 
All of them the delight of the pious. 

He published also 

Several tracts in prose 

On divine subjects, and the liberal arts ; 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 157 

In all which, 

The great strength of his genius, 

The acuteness of his judgment, 

And the goodness of his heart, 

Are illustriously displayed. 

At length, 
Worn out with age, sickness, and the toils 

Of a very useful life, he died, 

Nov. 25, 1748, in the 75th year of his age, 

Much lamented by all, 

Especially by the wise and the good. 

But, though a ruin so deplorable 

Has crushed his tenement of clay, 

The indwelling mind, 

Unsubdued by death, t 

And freed from mortal chains, 

Has reached her kindred skies, 

And lives divinely blest; 

Yet waits with strong desire 

The wondrous day of old predicted, 

When the archangel's trump 

Shall shake the astonished globe, 

And call the dust 

Now treasured in the tomb 

To life immortal. 

When, how good, and great, 

And worthy of praise he was, 

(Which nor the muse nor fame can tell,) 

Reader, thou shalt know, 

And all the world admire ! 



158 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

It will be easily perceived, from the preced- 
ing narrative, that the foundation of all Dr. 
Watts's eminence was his early piety. He was 
trained up by his godly parents in the instruction 
and discipline of the Lord ; and was thus led to 
an entire surrender of himself to God, before his 
heart was hardened through the deceitfulness of 
sin, and before any habits of evil had been con- 
firmed. What an encouraging example, both to 
parents and children ! 

That he possessed greater strength of intel- 
lect than is allotted to the generality of mankind, 
no one will deny ; but he wisely saw that men- 
tal power without due cultivation is of little 
avail ; and hence his indefatigable application 
to study. In youth and in age he was intent 
upon the enlargement of his mind by the acqui- 
sition of knowledge. Through life he was a 
hard student, diligently improving his time, that 
he might be able, in the most effectual manner, 
to instruct others. Many a man richly endow- 
ed by nature has fallen immensely short of 
what he might have been, by yielding to indo- 
lence and gossip. The attainments of Dr. 
Watts, as a scholar, are the more to be admired, 
because of the state of affliction and suffering 
in which the greater part of his life was spent. 
Even languor and disease could not abate his 
ardour in study. We are not, therefore, sur- 
prised, that his accomplishments, as a Christian 
preacher and divine, have been rarely surpassed. 
It is impossible to fix limits to the attainments 



LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 159 

-which, through God's blessing, may be realized 
by persevering application. 

Dr. Watts's spirit was eminently liberal and 
catholic ; and hence his works are almost equally 
acceptable to orthodox Christians of all denomi- 
nations. He was a dissenter ; but he lived in 
friendly intercourse with ministers belonging to 
the established Church. He had a deep and 
solemn conviction of the evil of popery, as a 
wicked perversion of divine truth, and as hostile 
both to civil and religious liberty. Regarding 
King William as an instrument in the hands of 
almighty God of preserving this nation from that 
bitter curse, and of preserving the interests of 
protestantism, he cherished a strong regard for 
that monarch, and poured out his thanks to hea- 
ven for the liberty which the nation enjoyed as 
the fruit, of the revolution. Sooner would this 
good man have submitted that his right arm 
should be severed from his body, than connect 
himself with papists, infidels, and libertines, in 
attempts to weaken the interests of protestant 
Christianity. 

His theological views appear to have been 
substantially those of Richard Baxter. At one 
period of his life he was led into some unpro- 
fitable and dangerous speculations concerning 
the person of Christ ; but his writings in general 
are unexceptionable, and very useful ; though 
his Calvinism occasionally hampers him, and 
leads him into inconsistencies. Few writers 
have ever exerted so powerful an influence. 



160 LIFE OF ISAAC WATTS, D. D. 

His Hymns for Children often supply the first 
religious and moral impressions of infancy ; his 
" Logic-' and " Improvement of the Mind" afford 
most important and valuable assistance in the 
studies of youth : and his sermons and other 
practical works nourish the piety of adult Chris- 
tians. But his Psalms and Hymns are, beyond 
all comparison, the most useful of his composi- 
tions. Not a few of these are eminently beau- 
tiful. They breathe the true spirit of Scriptural 
Christianity. For more than a hundred years 
they have assisted the devotions of the closet, 
of the family, and of public religious assemblies. 
The spiritual good of which they have thus been 
the means exceeds and baffles all our concep- 
tions, and will only be fully ascertained in eter- 
nity. This is an honour to which few even of 
the wisest and holiest of men can lay claim, and 
which perhaps only one man, the Rev. Charles 
Wesley, possesses in an equal degree. Long 
since, we have reason to believe, these two 
blessed men, the poets of the church, have met 
in the presence of their common Saviour, whose 
sufferings and glory formed the subjects of their 
song ; and as their genius and piety were his 
gifts, they have laid their honours at his feet, 
and will for ever render to him the glory of all 
the good that has been effected by their instru- 
mentality. 



THE LIFE 



OF 



MR. THOMAS HALIBURTON. 



PREFACE 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 



1. " The kingdom of God," saith our blessed 
Lord, " is within you." It is no outward, no dis- 
tant thing : " but a well of living water" in the 
soul, * ; springing up into everlasting life." It " is 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." It is holiness and happiness. 

2. The general manner wherein it pleases God 
to set it up in the heart is this : — A sinner, being 
drawn by the love of the Father, enlightened by 
the Son, (" the true light which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world,") and convinced 
of sin by the Holy Ghost, through the prevent- 
ing grace which is given him freely, cometh 
weary and heavy laden, and casteth all his sins 
upon him that is " mighty to save." He receiveth 
from him true living faith. Being justified by 
faith, he hath peace with God : he rejoices in 
hope of the glory of God, and knows that sin 
hath no more dominion over him. And the love 
of God is shed abroad in his heart, producing 
all holiness of heart and of conversation. 

3. This work of God in the soul of man is so 
described in the following treatise, as I have not 
seen it in any other, either ancient or modern, in 
our own or any other language. So that I cannot 



164 PREFACE TO HALIBURTON. 

but value it, next to the holy Scriptures, above 
any other human composition, excepting only the 
" Christian's Pattern," and the small remains of 
Clemens Romanus, Poly carp, and Ignatius. 

4. Yet this great servant of God at some times 
fell back from the glorious liberty he had received, 
into the spirit of fear and sin and bondage ; but 
why was it thus ? Because the hand of the Lord 
was shortened ? No, verily : but because he did 
not abide in Christ ; because he did not cleave 
to him with all his heart ; because he grieved 
the Holy Spirit wherewith he was sealed, by 
some, perhaps, undiscerned unfaithfulness ; who 
thereupon for a season departing from him left 
him weak and like another man. 

5. But it may be said, u The gospel covenant 
does not promise entire freedom from sin." What 
do you mean by the word " sin V those number- 
less weaknesses and follies sometimes, impro- 
perly, termed sins of infirmity? If you mean 
only this, we shall not put off these only with our 
bodies. But if you mean, " It does not promise 
entire freedom from sin, in its proper sense, or 
from committing sin ;" this is by no means true, 
unless the Scripture be false ; for thus it is writ- 
ten, " Whosoever is born of God doth not com- 
mit sin ;" unless he lose the Spirit of adoption, 
if not finally, yet for awhile, as did this child 
of God ; " for his seed remaineth in him, and 
he cannot sin, because he is born of God." He 
cannot sin so long as he keepeth himself;" 
for then " that wicked one toucheth him not ? " 
1 John iii, 9 ; v, 18. 



PREFACE TO HALIBURTOX. 165 

6. We see then how to judge of that other as- 
sertion, t; that the mercy of God to his sons in 
Christ Jesus extends to all infirmities, follies, 
and sins ; multiplied relapses not excepted." We 
grant, many of the children of God find mercy, 
notwithstanding multiplied relapses ; but though 
it is possible a man may be a child of God, who 
is not fully freed from sin, it does not follow that 
freedom from sin is impossible, or that it is not 
to be expected by all ; for it is promised ; it is 
described by the Holy Ghost as the common 
privilege of all ; and ;; God will be mindful'' (O 
let us be so!) i; of his covenant and promise 
which he hath made to a thousand generations/' 

7. This caution is necessary to be remembered, 
that ye who are weak be not offended. Neither 
be ye offended, when ye hear the wisdom of the 
world pronounce all this mere enthusiasm : a 
hard word, which most of those who are fondest 
of it no more understand than they do Arabic. 
Ask, in the spirit of meekness, him who calls it 
so, " Is the kingdom of God set up in your soul ? 
Do you feel that peace of God which passeth all 
understanding ? Do you rejoice with joy un- 
speakable and full of glory ? Is the love of God 
shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost 
which dwelleth in you ?" If not, you are no 
judge of these matters ; you cannot discern the 
things of the Spirit of God ; they are enthusi- 
asm, madness, foolishness to you : for they are 
spiritually discerned. 

8. Ask such a one, but with meekness and 
love, " Are you taught of God ? Do you know 



166 PREFACE TO HALIBURTON. 

that he abideth in you ? Have you the revela- 
tion of the Holy Ghost," (they are the words of 
our own church,) " inspiring into you the true 
meaning of Scripture ?" If you have not, with 
all your human science and worldly wisdom, 
you know nothing yet as you ought to know. 
Whatever you are in other respects, as to the 
things of God you are an unlearned and igno- 
rant man. And if you are unstable too, you will 
wrest these, as you do also the other scriptures, 
to your own destruction. 

9. Be not then surprised, ye that wait for 
peace, and joy, and love, through faith in the 
blood of Jesus, that such judges as these are 
continually crying out " Enthusiasm !" if you 
speak of the inward operations of the Holy 
Ghost. And as to you who have already peace 
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
now feel his love shed abroad in your hearts by 
the Holy Ghost which is given unto you, with 
whose spirit the Spirit of God beareth witness 
that ye are the sons of God ; it is your part to 
confirm your love toward them in all lowliness 
and meekness : (for who is it that maketh thee 
to differ 1 or what hast thou which thou hast 
not received ?) and to plead earnestly for them 
at the throne of grace, that the day-star may 
appear in their hearts also, and the Sun of 
righteousness at length arise upon them with 
healing in his wings ! 

John Wesley. 

London, Feb. 19th, 1738-9. 



THE 

LIFE OF THOMAS HAUBURTON. 



PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 

1. Mr. Thomas Halliburton was born at 
Duplin, in the parish of Aberdalgy, (of which 
his father was some time minister,) on Decem- 
ber 25, 1674. The three former parts of the 
following account were written by himself; the 
last is partly extracted from his diary, and 
partly taken from eye and ear witnesses. 

2. The common occurrences of the life of 
one in all respects so inconsiderable are not 
worth recording, and if recorded could be of 
little use either to myself or others. But if I 
can recount what has passed between God and 
my soul, so as to discover not only the parts of 
this work, the several advances it made, the 
opposition of the world, the devil, and my own 
heart, — if I can represent this ^vorkin its order, 
it may be of great use to my own establish- 
ment ; and should it fall into the hands of any 
other Christian, it may not be unuseful : for the 
work of God in all is, as to the substance, the 



168 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

same and uniform ; and as face answers to face 
in a glass, so does one Christian's experience 
answer to another's, and both to the word of 
God. 

3. I came into the world with a nature 
wholly corrupted, and a heart fully set in me 
to do evil : and from the morning of my days, 
though I was under the great light of the gos- 
pel, and the inspection of pious parents, and 
not yet corrupted by custom ; yet the imagina- 
tions of my heart, and the whole tenor of my 
life, were only evil continually. 

4. Indeed, in this period of my life I had 
unusual advantages ; my parents were emi- 
nently religious ; I continually heard the sound 
of divine truth in their instructions, and had 
the beauty of holiness set before my eyes in 
their example. They kept me from ill com- 
pany, and habituated me early to such outward 
duties as I was capable of. But this care of 
my father during his life, (which ended Oc- 
tober, 1682,) and of my mother after his death, 
did not change, but only hide nature. And 
though I cannot remember all the particulars, 
from the fourth or fifth year of my life, yet I 
do remember the general bent of my mind, 
which was even then wholly set against God : 
insomuch, that when I now survey the deca- 
logue, and review this portion of my time, not- 
withstanding the great distance, I still distinctly 
remember, and could easily enumerate, many 
instances of the opposition of my heart unto 
every one of its precepts. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX, 169 

5. For many years, it is true, the sins of 
this part of my life were entirely out of my 
thoughts. But when God began to convince 
me of sin, even those I had long since forgot- 
ten, those that were of an older date than any 
thing else I could remember, and not attended 
with any such remarkable circumstances as 
could be supposed to make a deep impression 
on my memory, were brought on my mind with 
unusual distinctness. Whence I cannot but 
observe, (1.) What exact notice the holy God 
takes of what men pass over as pardonable 
follies. (2.) How just reason we have to fear 
that, in the strokes we feel in riper years, God 
is " making us to possess the iniquities of our 
youth." (3.) What an exact register conscience, 
God's deputy, keeps ; how early it begins ; how 
accurate it is ; (even when it seems to sleep ;) 
and how it will justify his severity against sin- 
ners at the last day. O how far up will it fetch 
its accounts of those evils which we mind 
nothing of, when God shall open our eyes to 
discern those prints which he setteth upon the 
heels of our feet ; when the books shall be 
opened, and the dead, small and great, judged 
out of the things that are written therein ! 

6. When I review this period of my life, 
what reason have I to be ashamed, and even 
confounded, to think I have spent ten years of 
a short life, without almost a rational thought, 
undoubtedly without any that was not sinful! 
And this being matter of undoubted experience, 
I have herein a strong confirmation of my faith, 



170 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

as to the guilt of Adam's sin, and its imputation 
to his posterity : for (1.) From a child, the bent 
of my soul was " enmity against God." Nor 
was this the effect of custom or education. No :. 
there was a sweet conspiracy of precept, dis- 
cipline, and example to carry me the contrary 
way. Nor can I charge the fault of this on my 
constitution of body, or any thing that might in 
a natural way proceed from my parents. Yet 
was this enmity so strong as not to be suppress- 
ed, much less subdued, by the utmost care, and 
the best outward means. This is undoubted 
fact. (2.) To say, I was thus originally framed, 
without respect to any sin chargeable on me, is 
a position so full of flat contrariety to all the 
notions I can entertain of God, to his wisdom, 
his equity, and his goodness, that I cannot think 
of it without horror. (3.) Penal then this cor- 
ruption must be, as death and diseases are. And 
whereof can it be a punishment, if not of 
Adam's sin? While then these things are so 
plain in fact, and the deduction so easy from 
them, whatever subtle arguments any use against 
this great truth, I have no reason to be moved 
thereby. 

7. Hence, lastly, I am taught what estimate 
to make of those good inclinations with which 
some are said to be born. Either they -are the 
early effects of preventing grace, or of educa- 
tion, custom, occasional restraints, and freedom 
from temptation. A natural temper may easily 
be influenced by some of these, and by the con- 
stitution of the body, to a distaste of those 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 171 

grosser sins which make the most noise in the 
world. Yet all this is but sin under a disguise ; 
and the odds is not great. The one sort of sin- 
ners promise good fruit, but deceive ; whereas 
the only profane forbid expectation. And yet 
of this last sort more receive the gospel than 
of the former. " A certain man had two sons. 
And he came to the first, and said, Son, go 
work this day in my vineyard. He answered, 
and said, I will not : but afterward he repented, 
and went. And he came to the second, and 
said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, 
sir; and went not. Verily I say unto you, 
The publicans and the harlots go into the king- 
dom of God before you." 



CHAPTER II. 

1. In May, 1685, I went with my mother into 
Holland ; and being in some danger while we 
were at sea, my conscience, till then asleep, 
began to awaken, and to be terrified with appre- 
hensions of death. But all this concern was 
nothing more than natural fear, and a selfish 
desire of preservation. I was unwilling to die, 
and afraid of hell : it was not sin, but the con- 
sequence of it, I wanted to escape. The glory 
of God I was not concerned for at all; and ac- 
cordingly was the event. I promised, that were 
I at land I would keep all his commands. My 
mother told me it would not hold. But I was 



172 LIFE OF THOMAS KALIBURTOX. 

too ignorant of my own heart to believe her : I 
multiplied engagements, and doubted not but I 
should perforin them. But no sooner was I 
fixed at Rotterdam, than I forgot all my promi- 
ses and resolutions. The unrenewed heart, 
being free from the force put upon it. fell again 
into its old course. Nay, I grew still worse : 
the corruption which stopped for a while, now 
ran with greater violence. It is true, my awe for 
my mother, and the power of education, still 
restrained me from open sins: but to many 
secret things I was strongly inclined, and in 
many instances followed my inclination ; being 
a ready and easy prey to every temptation, not- 
withstanding all my engagements. 

2. My sins here had this grievous aggrava- 
tion, they were committed against greater light, 
and more of the means of grace, than I had ever 
before enjoyed. We had sermons almost every 
day, and were catechised every Saturday. My 
mother took care I should attend most of these, 
and at the same time private duties, praying 
with me and for me, and obliging me to read the 
Scripture, and other useful books. But so far 
was all this from having its due effect, that I 
was weary of it, and went on in sin; though 
not without frequent convictions, occasioned 
sometimes by the preaching of the word, some- 
times by the remains of my education. Yet all 
these were only as the starts of a sleepy man, dis- 
turbed by some sudden noise : he stirs a little, but 
soon sinks down again faster asleep than before. 
I easily freed myself from them, either by pro- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 173 

raising to hear or comply with them afterward, by 
withdrawing from the means of conviction, by 
extenuating ray sins, or by turning my eye to 
something I thought good in myself, though God 
knows I had little which had even the appear- 
ance of it. At other times I looked to the ten- 
dency of these convictions, viz., the engaging 
me to be holy ; and then I pored upon the diffi- 
culties of that course, till I had frighted myself 
from a compliance with them. If all these shifts 
failed, I then betook myself to diversions, which 
soon choked the word, and all convictions from it. 
3. In December, 1686, upon the earnest de- 
sire of my father's sister, married to the provost 
of Perth, I was sent home. While I stayed in 
this family, I saw nothing of religion ; and I 
easily took the liberty they gave, and made fair 
advances toward rejecting the very form of it. 
My aversion to those sins which, through, the 
influence of my education, I abominated before, 
sensibly weakened. My hate to learning in- 
creased, which I looked on as a burden and a 
drudgery, worse than the basest employment. 
And many a sinful shift did I betake myself to, 
that I might get the time shuffled over. In 
spring my mother came to me, I was then so 
rooted in ill, that in spite of natural affection, I 
was grieved at her return ; and when I first 
heard her voice, it damped me. I cared not to 
see her : nor was there any thing I disliked 
more than her conversation. I feared to be 
questioned as to what was passed, or to be re- 
strained from my sinful liberty. However, in 



174 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

the beginning of summer, my mother took me 
again to Rotterdam, and put me to Erasmus's 
school there. Here, though I stayed not long, 
the method of teaching took with me, so that I 
began to delight in learning. But otherwise I 
was still worse and worse, imder all the means 
God made use of to bring me to himself. 



CHAPTER III. 

1. In the- beginning of autumn, 16B1, we re- 
turned home, and fixed at Perth. Here I was 
immediately sent to school, and made more pro- 
gress in learning than before. But as to religion, 
I continued as unconcerned about and as averse 
from it as ever. However I behaved myself 
under my mother's eye, when I was with my 
comrades I took my full liberty, and, notwith- 
standing my greater knowledge, ran with them 
into all the same follies and extravagancies. 
And thus I continued till toward the close of 
King James's reign ; when the fear of some 
sudden stroke from the Papists, of which there 
was every where a great noise, revived my 
concern about religion. Of this, being some- 
what deeper than before, I shall endeavour to 
give a distinct account 

2. It was about this time that God, by the 
preaching of the word, and by catechising in 
public and private, enlightened my mind farther 
with the notional knowledge of the law and of 
the gospel. And thus sin was left without ex- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 175 

cuse, and conscience being armed with more 
knowledge, its checks were more frequent and 
sharp, and not so easily evaded. Some touches 
of sickness, too, riveted in me the impressions 
of frailty and mortality, * and the tendency of 
each of those numerous diseases to which we 
are daily exposed. And hereby I was brought 
into, and kept under, continual bondage through 
fear of death. 

3. I was now cast into the most grievous dis- 
quietude, having sorrow in my heart daily. I was 
in a dreadful strait between two. On the one 
hand, my fears gave an edge to my convictions 
of sin : this made me attend more to the word 
of God ; the more I attended to it, they in- 
creased the more, and I saw that there was no 
way to be freed from them but by being tho- 
roughly religious. On the other hand, if I should 
engage in religion in earnest, I saw the hazard 
of suffering, perhaps dying for it. And this I 
could not think of. Betwixt both I was dread- 
fully tossed, so that for some nights sleep went 
from my eyes. There was often impressed on 
my fancy, one holding a dagger to my breast, 
with, " Quit your religion, or die ;" and that so 
strongly, that I have almost fainted under it, being 
still terribly unresolved what to do. Sometimes 
I would let him give the fatal stroke ; but then 
my spirits failed, and my heart sunk within me. 
At other times I resolved to quit my religion, 
and take it again when the danger was passed. 
But neither could I find rest here. "What," 
thought I, "if he should destroy me afterward, 



176 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 

and so I lose both life and religion ? Or what, 
if I die before the danger is past, and so have 
no time to take it again ?" 

4. For near a year, few weeks, nay, few days 
and nights, passed over me without these strug- 
gles. But after King James's army was over- 
thrown on July 27, 1689, 1 soon grew as remiss 
as before. All my remaining difficulty was to 
stifle my convictions, which I endeavoured 
partly by a more careful attendance on outward 
duties, "partly by promising to abstain from 
those sins which most directly crossed my light, 
and partly by resolving to inquire farther into 
the will of God, and to comply with it hereafter. 

5. But these courses afforded no solid repose. 
The first sin against light, or omission of duty, 
shook all, and I was confounded at the thoughts 
of appearing before God in such a righteous- 
ness. Indeed I had some ease when trials were 
at a distance, but it vanished on their approach. 
This was not " gold tried in the fire," nor would 
it abide so much as a near view of danger ; but 
at the very appearance of a storm, the sandy 
foundation fell away. 

6. The effects of my being thus exercised 
were, (1.) I was brought to doubt of the truths 
of religion. Whenever I would have built on 
them in time of distress, a suspicion secretly 
haunted me, " What if these things are not so 1 
Have I a certainty and evidence about them, an- 
swerable to the weight that is to be laid upon 
them?" Death, and the trouble attending it, 
were certain things : but I was not so certain 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 177 

of the truths of religion. Still, when, under the 
apprehensions of death, I would have taken 
rest therein, my mind began to waver. Not 
that I could give any reason for it : but the way 
of the wicked is as darkness ; they know not at 
what they stumble. (2.) I found plainly here- 
by that I could never have peace till I came to 
another sort of certainty about religion. Death 
I saw was unavoidable, and might be sudden ; 
nor could I banish the thoughts of it. There- 
fore I concluded, " Unless I obtain such a con- 
viction of religion, and such an interest in it, as 
will make me look death in the face, not only 
without fear, but with joy ; good it were I had 
never been born." But how or where this was 
to be obtained, I was utterly uncertain. Here 
I lay in great perplexity, under the melancholy 
sense that I had hitherto u spent my money for 
that which is not bread, and my labour for that 
which profiteth not." (3.) This perplexity was 
somewhat eased one day, while I was reading 
how Mr. Robert Bruce was in a doubt, even 
concerning the being of God, who yet afterward 
came to the fullest satisfaction. I then felt a 
secret hope, that some time, in one way or other, 
God might thus satisfy me. Here was the dawn- 
ing of a light, which, though it was not soon 
cleared up, yet was never wholly put out again : 
a light which, though as yet it was far from 
satisfying, yet kept me from utter despair. 

7. About this time one Mr. Donaldson, a re- 
verend-old clergyman, preached at Perth, and 
coming to visit mv mother, called for me, and 
12 



178 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBTJRTON. 

asked me, among other questions, " if I sought 
a blessing upon my learning." I frankly an- 
swered, "No." He replied, with a severe look, 
" Sirrah, unsanctified learning has done much 
mischief in the church of God." This saying 
left so deep an impression on me ever after, that 
whenever I was any way straitened, I applied to 
God by prayer for help in my learning, and par- 
don for not seeking it before. Yet as to the 
main, I was still afar from God, and an enemy 
to him both in my heart and works. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1. For the better advantage of my education, 
my mother, in 1690, removed with me to Edin- 
burgh. I was now again put to school, and in 
November, 1692, entered at the college. Here 
my knowledge of the law of God daily increas- 
ed, and therewith my knowledge of sin. I saw 
more and more that he was displeased with me 
for sins which formerly I had not observed. 
The impressions of my mortality were likewise 
riveted in me by new afflictions, and I was 
more in bondage through the growing fear of 
death. Again : the Scriptures being now daily 
preached, forced me to some inquiry into my 
own sincerity in religion ; and I was willing, 
provided I might save my bosom idols, not only 
to hear, but to do many things. 

2. I was now carried far in a form of religion. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 179 

I prayed not only morning and evening, but at 
other times too ; I wept much in secret ; I read 
and meditated, and resolved to live otherwise 
than I had done. But this goodness too was as 
the morning cloud. It was force, and not nature ; 
and therefore could not be expected to last any 
longer than the force which occasioned it. 

3. While I was under this distress many a 
wretched shift did I betake myself to for relief. 
When I read or heard searching things, if any 
thing that was said seemed to make for me, I 
greedily catched hold of it. When I found 
somewhat required that I neither did, nor could 
even resolve to comply with, I thought to com- 
pound, and make amends some other way. Or 
else I questioned, whether God had required it 
or no ? whether he that taught so was not mis- 
taken ? and whether I might not be in a state 
of salvation, without those marks of it which he 
assigned ? Again : many times, when I would 
not see, I quarrelled with ministers and books 
for not speaking plainly. Always I carefully 
sought for the lowest marks, and the least de- 
grees of grace, that were saving ; for I designed 
but just so much religion as would take me 
to heaven, the very least that would serve this 
turn. And when none of these shifts availed, I 
resolved, in general, to do all that God com- 
manded. But I soon retracted, when he tried 
me in any particulars that were contrary to my 
inclination. And when I saw I must do it, I 
begged a little respite : with St. Austin, " I was 
content to be holy, but not yet :" forgetting that 



180 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

a delay is, in God's account, a refusal ; since 
all commands require present obedience. After 
all ways were tried, I blamed my education. I 
knew religion was a change of heart ; but 
whether mine had undergone this change was 
the question. " Now," thought I, " if I had not 
been educated religiously, but had changed all 
at once, it would have been more easily dis- 
cernible." Thus was I entangled in my own 
ways ; and even seeing wisdom, I found it not. 

4. Although I now seemed to have gone far, 
yet I was indeed wholly wrong. For being con- 
vinced of the necessity of righteousness, but 
ignorant of Christ, I sought it by the works of 
the law. Therefore " the carnal mind, which 
was enmity against God," still continued in me ; 
and all my struggling was only a tossing to and 
fro, between light* and love of sin, wherein sin 
was still conqueror ; for my bosom idols I could 
not part with. Besides, the small religion I had 
was not abiding, but rose and fell with the 
above-mentioned occasions. 

5. About this time Clark's " Martyr ology" 
came into my hands. I loved history, and read 
it greedily. The patience, courage, and joy of 
the martyrs convinced me that there was a re- 
ality in religion beyond the power of nature. I 
was convinced, likewise, that I was a stranger 
to it, because I could not think of suffering. 
And withal I felt some faint desires after it, so 
far at least as often to join in Balaam's wish, 
" Let me die the death of the righteous, and let 
my last end be like his." 



LIFE OF THOMAS KALIBURTON. 181 

6. At this time, likewise, God restrained me 
from many follies I was inclined to, by bodily 
infirmity. He provided me too with, friends 
who were very tender of me. He fed me, 
though I knew him not. But so far was I from 
being thankful for these mercies, that my proud 
heart fretted at them. O what reason have I 
to say, " The Lord is good even to the evil and 
unthankful." 



CHAPTER V. 

1. The air of Edinburgh agreeing neither 
with my mother nor me, in May, 1693, she re- 
moved to St. Andrew's. And here I came 
under the care of Mr. Taylor, a wise man, and 
one very careful of me. Thus, chased as I 
was from place to place, God everywhere pro- 
vided me with friends. And now, by the 
searching ministry of Mr. Forrester, he began 
to give me some small discovery of the more 
spiritual evils of my soul. He opened to me 
first the pride of my heart, and the wickedness 
and injustice of valuing myself upon those de- 
liverances from my own weakness which had 
been wholly wrought by his strength. I like- 
wise saw the impiety of drawing near to him 
with my mouth while my heart was far from 
him ; and, indeed, of trusting to any outward 
performance without the life of all, faith work- 
ing by love. 



182 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

2. This, added to what I was conscious of 
before, frequently threw me into racking per- 
plexity ; when, finding no peace in any of my 
former evasions, I resolved to enter into a 
solemn covenant with God : and having wrote 
and subscribed this, I believed all was right., 
I found a sort of present peace ; amendment 
I thought sufficient atonement, and such an 
engagement I looked on as a performance. I 
now, likewise, often found an unusual sweet- 
ness in hearing the word, and sometimes the 
most piercing convictions : and these were in- 
deed a taste of the good word of God and the 
powers of the world to come. 

3. But the merciful God would not let me 
rest here : the peace I found by making this 
covenant was soon lost by breaking it ; at the 
same time my heart smote me for my oldest 
sins, by which I found former accounts to be 
still standing against me, which filled me with 
confusion and jealousies of these ways. I per- 
ceived, too, something of the treachery of my 
engagements, and that my heart had not been 
sound therein, but had secret reserves for some 
sins, which were then given up in word only. 
God also let loose some of my corruptions upon 
me ; which, as soon as his restraint was taken 
off, were more violent than ever, and bore down 
before them all that . I had set in their way. 
By these means he discovered to me the fruit- 
lessness of my covenant, and threw me afresh 
into the utmost confusion ; while the evil I 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 183 

thought so effectually provided against again 
came upon me. 

4. Yet, notwithstanding I felt the vanity of 
these ways, I still adhered to them ; I again 
trusted my own heart, and hoped to recover by 
renewing the peace I lost by breaking my cove- 
nant ; I laid the blame on some accidental 
defect in my former management — and thought, 
were that mended, all would be well. When 
I found something wanting still, I contrived to 
make it up with something extraordinary of my 
own, with the multiplication of prayers, or of 
some outward duty or other. But all these 
refuges failed, and my life was so thoroughly 
miserable while I was pursuing them, that, had 
not the infinite mercy of God prevented, one of 
these effects had surely followed : — either, 
(1.) The convictions I was under would have 
ceased, God giving over his striving with me ; 
and then, having attained to a form of godli- 
ness, I should have rested therein and looked 
no farther : or, (2.) If those convictions had 
continued, and I had been left to my own way, 
I should have " laboured in the fire ail my 
days, wearying myself with vanity," in a con- 
tinual vicissitude of resolutions and breaches, 
security arid disquietude ; engagements and sins, 
false peace and racking anxiety, by turns taking 
place : or, (3.) When I had wearied myself 
in vain, I should have utterly given up religion, 
and gone over, if not to direct atheism, at least 
to open profaneness : or, lastly, being forced 
to seek shelter somewhere, and being so sadly 



184 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON, 

disappointed in all the ways I tried, I had said, 
" This evil is of the Lord, why wait I any 
longer V* and so sunk in final despair. And, 
in fact, I had some experience of all these. 
Sometimes I sat down with the bare form. 
Sometimes I wearied myself in running from 
one of these vain courses to another. At other 
times, finding no profit, I turned careless, and 
was on the point of throwing off all religion ; 
and very often I was driven almost to distrac- 
tion, and stood on the very brink of despair. 

5. When I have been disappointed again and 
again, I was in the utmost perplexity to find 
where the fault lay. I found this way of cove- 
nanting with God mentioned in Scripture, re- 
commended by ministers, and approved by the 
experience of all the people of God. I could 
not tax myself with guile in doing it : I was 
resolved to perform the engagement I had made. 
I made it with much concern and solemnity, and 
for some time kept it strictly. But though I 
could not then see where the failing was, I 
have since been enabled to see it clearly. 
(1.) Being ignorant of the righteousness of 
God, I was still establishing a righteousness 
of my own ; and, though in words I renounced, 
this, yet in fact I sought righteousness and 
peace, not in the Lord Jesus, but in my own 
covenants and engagements, so that I really 
put them in Christ's room : and as to forgive- 
ness of sins, my real trust was not in his blood, 
but in the evenness of my own walking. — 
Therefore, I obtained not righteousness, be- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 185 

cause I still sought it, as it were, by the works 
of the law. And it was evident I did so, by 
this plain sign : whenever I was challenged 
for sin, instead of recourse to the blood of 
Christ, I still sought peace only in renewing 
my vows again ; the consent I gave to the law 
was not from the reconcilement of my heart to 
its holiness, but merely from fear. The en- 
mity against it continued ; nor would I have 
chosen it, had that force been away. Farther : 
my eye was not single ; provided I was safe, 
I had no concern for the ^lory of God. In a 
word, I engaged, before" God had thoroughly 
engaged me. We may be in a sort willing, 
before he hath made us truly so. But the first 
real kindness begins with him ; and we never 
love till his goodness draws us. Fear may 
indeed overpower us into something like it, 
as it did me. I was willing to be saved 
from hell ; but not to be saved in God's way, 
and in order to those ends he proposes in our 
salvation. 

6. This was not my only trouble. I was 
now engaged in metaphysics and natural divi- 
nity ; accustomed to subtle notions, and pleased 
with them ; whence, by the just permission of 
God, the devil took occasion to cast me into 
doubts about the crreat truths of religion, espe- 
cially the being of a God. I not only felt as 
formerly the want of evidence for it, but various 
arguments were suo-cested against it. But 
though the enmity of my heart against God was 
still oTeat, vet he suffered me not to yield to 



186 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

them. There remained so much evidence of 
his being, in his works of creation and provi- 
dence, as made me recoil at the terrible conclu- 
sion aimed at by those arguments ; and being 
likewise affected with deep apprehensions of 
the shortness and uncertainty of the present 
life, I dreaded a supposition that shook the 
foundations of any hope of relief from the 
other side of time. 

7. In this strait between light and darkness, 
as my disturbance was from my own reason- 
ings, so from the same I sought my relief. 
By these I hoped to obtain establishment in the 
truth, and answer to all objections against it. I 
therefore seriously set myself to search for de- 
monstrative arguments : and I found them, but 
found no relief. The most forcible of them, 
indeed, extorted assent by the absurdity of the 
contrary conclusion ; but not giving me any 
satisfying discoveries of that God whose exist- 
ence they obliged me to own, my mind was not 
quieted. Nay, and besides, those arguments 
not dissolving contrary objections, whenever the 
light of them was removed, and those objections 
came again in view, I was again exceedingly 
shaken ; I was like him who, reading Plato 
" Of the Immortality of the Soul," said, "While 
I read, I assent ; but, I cannot tell how, so 
soon as I lay down the book, all my assent is 
gone." 

8. I still hoped to attain what I had hitherto 
failed of, by some farther progress in learning ; 
but all in vain : the farther I went, the greater 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 187 

was my disappointment, the more difficulties I 
continually met with, and found " he that in- 
creaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." When 
this would not avail, then I spent my weary 
hours in vain wishes for some extraordinary dis- 
coveries. Nay, but " if one arose from the dead, 
they will not believe." And this, notwithstand- 
ing my disappointment, I gained : I was some- 
what beat from that towering opinion of my 
knowledge and abilities which my first seeming 
success in philosophy gave me, and brought to 
a diffidence of myself. 

9. But still my corruptions took daily root, and 
increased in strength by my weak resistance. 
Yet I had a fair form of religion. I avoided all 
those sins that plainly thwarted the light of my 
conscience. I abstained from those evils which 
even the more serious students gave into, and 
kept at a distance from the occasions of them. I 
was more exact in attending both public and 
private prayer, and not without some concern for 
my inward frame in them. When I was ensnared 
into any sin, or omission of any duty, I was 
deeply sorrowful. I had a kindness for all that 
feared God, and a pleasure in their converse, 
especially oil religion. I had frequent tastes of 
the good word of God, which made me delight 
in approaching him. I had many returns to 
prayer : when under a deep sense of my im- 
potence, I betook me to God in any strait, I was 
so remarkably helped, that I could not but ob- 
serve it. Hereby God drew me gradually in, 
to expect every good gift from above, and en- 



188 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

courage the very faintest beginnings of a look 
toward a return. 

10. But though by these means I got a name 
to live, yet was I really dead. For, (1.) My 
natural darkness still remained, though with 
some small dawnings of light. (2.) The enmity 
of my mind against the law of God was yet un- 
taken away. I had not a respect unto all his 
commands, nor a sight of the beauty of holiness ; 
neither did my heart approve of the whole yoke 
of Christ, as good and desirable ; and I complied 
with it in part, not from a delight therein, but 
because I saw I was undone without it. (3.) I 
yet " sought righteousness as it were by the 
works of the law:"' I was wholly legal in all I 
did; not seeing the necessity, the security, the 
glory of the gospel method of salvation, by seek- 
ing righteousness and strength in the Lord Christ 
alone. Lastly, self was the spring of all: my 
sole aim was to save myself, without any regard 
to the glory of God, or any inquiry how it could 
consist with it to save one who had so deeply 
offended. In a word, all my religion was ser- 
vile, constrained, and anti-evangelical. 

11. From the foregoing passages, I cannot but 
observe, (1 .) What a depth of deceitfulness there 
is in the heart of man. How many shifts did 
mine use to elude the design of all those striv- 
ings of the Spirit of the Lord with me ! I have 
told many, but the one half is not told. And 
all these respect but one point in religion. If a 
single man were to recount the more remarkable 
deceits, with respect to the whole of his beha- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. _ 189 

viour, how many volumes must he write ! And 
if so many may be seen, how many secret, un- 
discernible, or at least undiscerned deceits must 
still remain! So much truth is there couched in 
that short scripture, "The heart is deceitful 
above all things: who can know it?" 

I observe, (2.) How far we may go toward 
religion, and yet come short of it. I had and did 
many things. I heard the Scriptures gladly. I 
was "almost persuaded to be a Christian:" I 
had " escaped the" outward " pollutions that 
are in the world:" yea, I seemed "enlight- 
ened, and a partaker of the heavenly gift ;" 
having many times " tasted the good word of 
God, and the powers of the world to come." 
I had undergone many changes, but not the great 
change ; I was not born of God ; I was not be- 
gotten anew, and made a child of God through 
a living faith in Jesus Christ. 

Again: I cannot but look back with wonder at 
the astonishing patience of God, which suffered 
my manners so long, and the steadiness he show- 
ed in pursuing his work, notwithstanding all my 
provocations. All the creation could not have 
afforded so much forbearance : the disciples of 
Christ would have called for fire from heaven ; 
yea, Moses would have found more here to irri- 
tate him then at Meribah. Glory be to God, 
that we have to do with him, and not with man. 
His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts 
as our thoughts ; but as the heavens are high 
above the earth, so are his ways and thoughts 
of mercy above ours. 



190 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBtJRTON. 

Fourthly. I must bear witness to the reason- 
ableness of God's way. It did not destroy my 
faculties, but improve them. He enlightened my 
eyes to see what he would have me to do, and 
did not force, but gradually persuade me to 
comply with it. This was not to compel, but 
gently bend the will to the things that were 
really fit for it to incline to ; nor did he ever 
oblige me to part with any sin, till he had let 
me see it was against my interest as well as 
duty ; and the smallest piece of compliance 
with his will wanted not even a present reward. 

Lastly. Though this work was agreeable to 
reason, yet it was far above the power of nature; 
I cannot ascribe either its rise or progress to 
myself; for it was what I sought not, I thought 
not of ; nay, I hated, and feared, and avoided, 
and shunned, and opposed it with all my might. 
I cannot ascribe it to any outward means. There 
are many parts of it which they did not reach : 
and as to the rest, the most forcible failed; the 
weakest wrought the effect. Neither strong nor 
weak had the same effect always. But the work 
was still carried on by a secret and undiscernible 
power, like the wind blowing where it listeth. 
It bore the impress of God in all its steps. The 
word that awakened me was the voice of " Him 
who maketh the dead to hear, and calleth the 
things which are not as though they were." 
The light that shone was the candle of the Lord, 
tracing an unsearchable heart through all its 
windings. It was all the work of One who is 
every where, who knoweth every thing, and 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON, 191 

who will not faint or be discouraged, till he hath 
brought forth judgment unto victoiy. And it 
was all a uniform work, though variously car- 
ried on through many interruptions, over many 
oppositions, for a long tract of time, by means 
seemingly weak, improper., contrary, suitable 
only for Him whose paths are in the great 
waters, and whose footsteps are not known. In 
a» word, it was a bush burning and not consum- 
ed, only by the presence of God. It was a 
spark in the midst of the ocean, still kept alive, 
notwithstanding floods continually poured upon 
it. This was the Lord's doing, and it is mar= 
vellous in our eyes. 



PART II. 



CHAPTER I. 

1 . I had now a design to go abroad ; but on 
the advice of some friends, I laid aside that 
design, and engaged as chaplain to a family : 
accordingly in August, 1696, I went to the 
Wemyss. When I came hither a stranger, 
among persons of considerable quality, I was 
in -a great strait, and cried to God for help. 
And though it was my own, more than his 
honour I was concerned for, yet He who would 
not overlook even Ahab's humiliation, did not 



192 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

fail to assist me, so far as to maintain the re- 
spect due to the station I was in. 

2. I had not been here long, when I was often 
engaged, and frequently without necessity, in 
debates about the divinity of the Scriptures, and 
the most important dpctrines therein. This drew 
me to read the writings of deists, that I might 
know the strength of the enemy. But I soon 
perceived that these foolish questions and con- 
tentions were unprofitable and vain. For evil 
men and seducers will wax worse and worse, 
deceiving and being deceived. And to my sad 
experience I found, that their word doth eat as 
doth a gangrene : so that happy is he 4;hat stops 
his ears against it ! 

3. The reading these was of dangerous con- 
sequence to one who was not rooted and ground- 
ed in the truth. Their objections I found struck 
at the foundations ; they were many, new, and 
set off to the best advantage by the cunning 
craftiness of men practised in deceit. Nor was 
I acquainted with that vigilance and humble 
sobriety that was necessary for my defence 
against them. The adversary, finding all things 
thus prepared, set furiously upon me. He 
wrought up first the natural atheism, darkness, 
and enmity of my own heart, blasphemously to 
ask concerning the great truths of religion, 
•' How can these things be ?" To increase 
these doubts, he employed some who had all 
the advantages'of nature and education, persons 
smooth, sober, of generous tempers, and good 
understandings, to oppose the truth with the 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 193 

most plausible appearances of argument and 
reason. To all this he added his own subtle 
suggestions, "Hath God indeed said so T» And 
sometimes he thre^ in tiery darts, to inflame 
and disorder me ; especially when I was alone, 
or most seriously employed in prayer or medi- 
tation. 

4. J3v all these ways he assaulted me, both 
as «> the bcmg of God, as to his providence, 
and as \o the truth both of his revelation in 
general, and of many particulars contained in it. 
Sometimes he suggested the want of sufficient 
evidence ; at other times, that it was obscure or 
hard. Yea, some parts of it were accused as 
plain blasphemy ; some as contradictory to each 
other. The great mystery of the gospel was 
particularly set upon and represented as foolish- 
ness ; and for fear of some or other of these 
suggestions, it was even a terror to me to look 
into the Bible. 

5. The subtle enemy, who had so often be- 
fore tempted me to pride, now pressed me to a 
bastard sort of humility. " How can such a one 
as you expect to remove difficulties, which so 
many abler men have sunk under V By this I 
was brought into grievous perplexity. I sought 
relief from my own reasoning, from books, and 
even from prayer ; but I found it not. Then I 
wished for some extraordinary revelation ; and 
at last sat down with the sluggard, "folding my 
hands, and eating my own flesh." My own rea- 
sonings availed not against Him " who esteems 
iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood." All 
13 



194 X-TFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

my books overlooked many of my scruples, and 
did not satisfy me as to the rest. And as to 
extraordinary expectations, God justly rejected 
them, seeing I would not hear Moses and the 
prophets. So that I had quite sunk under the 
weight of my trouble, and been swallowed up 
of sorrow and despair, had it, not been for some 
little assistances which the goodness of God 
gave me, sometimes one way, sometime£ an- 
other. When I was urged to reject the Scrip- 
tures, it was often seasonably suggested, " To 
whom shall I go ? These are the words of 
eternal life." God powerfully convinced me, 
and kept the conviction strong upon my mind, 
that whenever I parted with revelation, I must 
give up all prospect of certainty or satisfaction 
about eternal life. The boasted demonstrations 
of a future happiness, built only on the light of 
nature, I had tried long ago, and found to be 
altogether weak and inconclusive ; though had 
they been ever so conclusive, I had not been a 
whit the nearer satisfaction. For to tell me of 
such a state, without an account of its nature, or 
the terms whereon it was attainable, was all 
one as if nothing had been said about it, and left 
my mind in equal confusion. Again : on a due 
observation of those who were truly religious, I 
could not but even then think them the better 
part of mankind : and my soul started at charg- 
ing all the best of mankind with a lie, in a thing 
of the greatest importance. On the other hand, 
God opened my eyes to see the unaccountable 
folly of those who had abandoned revealed re- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 195 

ligion. The Scripture tells them plainly, they 
must do his will, if they would know whether 
the doctrine be of God. But they walk in a 
direct contradiction to his will : how then can 
they know of the doctrine ? Nay, some sober, 
learned, and otherwise inquisitive persons, owned 
that we are already miserable, if we are either 
cut off from the hopes of, or left at uncertainty 
about, a future state of happiness. They owned, 
likewise, themselves to be thus uncertain, and 
yet were at a little or no pains to be satisfied : 
yea, I found they rather sought for what might 
strengthen their doubts, than remove them ; 
which plainly showed a hatred of the light. 

6. I received farther help from considering 
the lives, but more especially the deaths, of the 
martyrs. When I considered the number, the 
quality, and all the circumstances of those who 
had been tortured, not accepting deliverance, I 
could not but own the finger of God, and the 
reality of religion. The known instances of its 
power over children, in their tender years, ap- 
peared likewise of great weight ; and I began 
to get frequent touches of conviction, whereby, 
feeling the piercing virtue of his word making 
manifest the secrets of my heart, I was forced 
to own God to be in it of a truth. Lastly : I 
found a secret hope, begat and cherished, I know 
not how, sometimes even amidst the violence of 
temptations, that as God had delivered others 
from temptations like mine, (although I doubted 
if ever any had been so much molested as I,) 
so he would deliver me at length : that what I 



196 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

knew not now, I should know hereafter ; that 
my mouth should yet be filled with his praise ; 
and that Satan's rage showed his time was but 
short. 

7. Hereby I was enabled, not only to perse- 
vere, and with more earnestness, both in public 
and private duties, but also carefully to conceal 
all my straits from others, who might have stum- 
bled at or been hardened by them. I was un- 
willing others should know any thing that might 
disgust them at religion : " Tell it not in Gath, 
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." 
In converse with such as were shaken, I still 
stood for the truth, as if I had been under no 
doubt about it. And I must own, that while I 
did so, God often gave me both success with 
others, and satisfaction in my own mind. How 
good a Master is God ! A word spoken for him 
is not lost ; nor will he suffer the least service 
to be in vain. A heathen Cyrus, yea, a Nebu- 
chadnezzar himself, shall not work without his 
reward. 

8. Before I proceed, I must observe the folly 
of reasoning with Satan ; whenever I did so, he 
had still great advantage ; he easily evaded all 
my arguments, and enforced his own sugges- 
tions ; and even when they were not maintained 
by argument, he injected them so strongly, that 
I was not able to stand against them. Our safest 
course is to hold him at a distance, and avoid 
all communion with him. I must observe, like- 
wise, the wise providence of God, that the great- 
est difficulties against religion are hid from 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 197 

atheists. None of the objections they make are 
near so subtle as those which are often suggest- 
ed to me. Indeed, they do not view religion 
near enough to see either the difficulties or the 
advantages that attend it. And the devil finding 
them quiet, keeps them so, not using force, 
where he can do his work without it. Besides, 
God, in his infinite wisdom, permits not all these 
subtleties of hell to be published, in tenderness 
to the faith of the weak, which could not bear 
so severe an assault. 

9. I lay under many inconveniences all this 
while. Most of the converse I had was with 
unholy men. I had no friend to whom I could 
impart my griefs with freedom, or any prospect 
of satisfaction. i\.nd the entire concealing my 
concern made it fasten more and more, and 
drink up my blood and spirits. I laid aside my 
studies ; I could not pursue either business or 
diversion ; I had no heart to do any thing ; I could 
not read, unless now and then a small portion 
of Scripture, or some other practical book, ex- 
cept when, for a short space, there was an 
intermission of my trouble. For near a year 
and a half I read scarce any thing ; and this 
slothful posture laid me open to fresh tempta- 
tions, and made my corruptions grow stronger 
still. 

10. Yet even now God minding his own 
work, by the means of his word, brought the 
law, in its spiritual meaning, nearer ; and then 
I found more discernibly the stirrings of sin, 
which, taking occasion from the commandment, 



198 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

and being fretted at the light let into my soui, 
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. 
Hereby I was plunged into deeper guilt; "my 
iniquities went over my head ;" and my con- 
science was so alarmed, "that I found no rest 
in my bones, by reason of my sin." 

1 1. I still laboured for rest, either by extenu- 
ating my faults, pleading the strength of tempta- 
tion, (sometimes not. without secret reflections 
upon God,) or by trying to persuade myself 
they were no faults at all. When all these 
failed, I made new vows and resolutions ; and 
Nov. 23, 1697, (a day I had set apart for fast- 
ing and prayer,) I drew up a short account of 
my treacherous dealing with God from my youth 
up, and solemnly bound myself to him for the 
time to come. 

12. But though by this means I was kept 
from open pollutions ; though I was careful of 
outward duties ; received the word with joy ; 
watched against pride of heart, unbelief, and 
other spiritual evils ; though I fasted, prayed, 
mourned, and was much in secret ; yea, strove 
against all sins, even those I loved best ; yet 
all this was only a form of religion, the power 
of which I was still a stranger to : I was a 
stranger to that blessed relief of sinners, justi- 
fication through the blood of Christ. Though 1 
professed to believe it, I was really in the dark 
as to its glorious efficacy, tendency, and design. 
Still my eye was not single ; I regarded only 
myself, and not the glory of God. It was still 
by some righteousness of my own, in whole or 



• LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 199 

in part, that I sought relief. Though I did part 
with my beloved sins, yet it was neither without 
reluctance, nor without some secret reserve. 
Lastly, my heart was utterly averse from all 
spiritual religion : and if I sometimes aimed at 
fixing my mind on heavenly things, yet it was 
soon weary of this forcible bent, and it seemed 
intolerable to think of being always spiritual. 

13. I was now reduced to the last extremity. 
My sins were set in order before me, and had 
taken such hold upon me, that I was not able to 
look up. They were set in order in the dread- 
fulness of their nature and aggravations ; my 
excuses baffled, and my mouth stopped before 
God. All the ways I had taken for my relief 
had deceived me : they were the staff of a 
broken reed ; they pierced my arm, when I es- 
sayed to lean upon them ; and " I was ashamed, 
and even confounded, that I had hoped." The 
wrath of God was likewise dropped into my 
soul, and " the poison of his arrows drank up 
my spirits." Add to this, that I was still unsa- 
tisfied about religion, and my enemies often told 
me, that even in God there was no succour for 
me. Yea, sometimes Satan, to entangle me the 
more, assaulted all the truths of religion at once ; 
and then I was utterly confounded, when the 
Lord commanded that my enemies should close 
me in on every side. 

14. By the extremity of this anguish I was 
for some time, about the end of ninety-seven, 
and the beginning of ninety-eight, dreadfully 
cast down. I was wearv of my life. Oft did I 



200 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

use Job's words, " I loathe it, I would not live 
alway." And yet I was afraid to die. I had 
no rest : " my sore ran in the day, and in the 
night time it ceased not." At night I wished 
for day, and in the day I wished for night. I 
said, " My couch shall comfort me ; but then 
darkness was as the shadow of death." I was 
often on the brink of despair. " He filled me 
with bitterness, he made me drunk with worm- 
wood. He removed my soul far from peace : I 
forgat prosperity. I said, My hope and my 
strength are perished from the Lord." I won- 
dered that I was not consumed ; and though I 
dreaded destruction from the Almighty, yet I 
must have justified him if he had destroyed me. 
Thus I walked about dejected, weary, and heavy 
laden ; weary of my disease, and weary of my 
vain remedies ; and utterly uncertain what to 
do next, or what course to take. 



CHAPTER II. 

1. It was in this extremity God stepped in : 
he found me wallowing in my blood, in a help- 
less and hopeless condition. I was quite over- 
come, neither able to fight nor fly, when the Lord 
passed by me, and made this time a time of 
love. Toward the beginning of February, 1698, 
this seasonable relief came. I was then, as I 
remember, at secret prayer, when he discovered 
himself to me, when he let me see that there 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 201 

are " forgivenesses with him, and mercy, and 
plenteous redemption. He made all his good- 
ness to pass, and. he proclaimed Ins name, the 
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, 
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and 
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving 
iniquity, transgression, and sin ; who will be 
gracious to whom he will be gracious, and will 
show mercy to whom he will show mercy." 
This was a strange sight to one who before 
looked on God only as a consuming fire, which 
I could not see and live. He brought me from 
Sinai, and its thunde rings, to Mount Zion, and 
to " the blood which speaketh better things than 
that of Abel." I now with wonder beheld Christ 
in his glory, " full of grace and truth." I saw 
that he who had before rejected all my offerings, 
was well pleased in the Beloved, being fully 
satisfied not only that there is forgiveness of 
sins, through the redemption which is in Jesus, 
bm also, that God by this means might be " just 
in justifying even the ungodly that believe in 
him." How was I ravished with delight to see 
that such mercy might consist even with his 
inflexible justice and spotless purity ! And yet 
more, when he let me see that to me, even to 
me, was the word of tins salvation sent, that 
even I was invited to " come, and take the wa- 
ter of life freely !" Farther : he discovered to 
me his design in the whole, even " that no flesh 
might glory in Ins sight ;" that he might mani- 
fest the riches of his grace, and "be exalted in 
showing m^rcy." And when this strange dia- 



202 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBTJRTON. 

covery was made of a relief which made full 
provision both for God's glory and my salvation, 
my soul was sweetly carried out to rest in it, as 
worthy of God, and every way suited to my 
necessity. 

2. All these discoveries were conveyed to 
me by his word : not indeed by one particular 
passage, but by the concurring light of many of 
its testimonies and promises, seasonably set 
home, and plainly expressing those truths : thus 
I found it to be the power of God unto salva- 
tion. But neither was it his word alone ; for 
the same passages I had read before and thought 
upon, without any relief; but now the Lord 
shined into my mind by them. Before this I 
knew the letter only, but now the words were 
spirit and life ; a burning light by them shone into 
my mind, and gave me not merely some notional 
knowledge, but an experimental " knowledge of 
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
And vastly different this was from all the notions 
I had before had of the same truths. It shone 
from heaven : it was not a spark kindled by my 
own endeavours, but it shone suddenly about 
me : it came by a heavenly means, the word : 
it opened heaven, and discovered heavenly 
things ; and its whole tendency was heaven- 
ward. It was a true light, giving true mani- 
festations of the one God, and the one Mediator 
between God and man, and a true view of my 
state with respect to God, not according to my 
foolish imaginations. It was a distinct and clear 
light, not only representing spiritual thiugs, but 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 203 

manifesting them in their glory, and in their 
comely order. It set all things in their due line 
of subordination to God, and gave distinct views 
of their genuine tendency. It was a satisfying 
light : the soul absolutely rested upon the dis- 
coveries it made : it was assured of them ; it 
could not doubt if it saw, or if the things were 
so as it represented them. It was a quickening, 
refreshing, healing light. It arose with healing 
in its wings. It was a powerful light ; it dissi- 
pated that thick darkness which overspread my 
mind, and made all those frighful temptations, 
that before tormented me, instantly flee before 
it. Lastly, it was a composing light ; it did not, 
like a flash of lightning, fill the soul with fear 
and amazement : but it quieted my mind, and 
gave me the full and free use of all my facul- 
ties. I need not give a large account of this 
light, for no words can give a notion of light to 
the blind : and he that has eyes, (at least, while 
he sees it,) will need no words to describe it. 
Proceed we, then, to its fruits, whereby the 
difference of it from all my former light will 
most evidently appear. 

3. The first effect of it was an approbation 
of God's way of saving sinners by Jesus Christ ; 
as a way of relief in all respects suitable to the 
needs of a poor, guilty, self-condemned, self- 
destroyed sinner, who is at length beat from 
all other reliefs, and hath his mouth entirely 
stopped before God. In this I rested, as a way 
full of peace and comfort, and providing abun- 
dantly for all those ends I desired to hav^ 



204 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

secured. And this approbation discovered it- 
self ever after in all temptations, by keeping up 
in me a settled persuasion that " God hath 
given to us eternal life, and this life is only in 
his Son." And, when afterward I was under 
temptations, it still kept me firm in an absolute 
determination utterly to reject all other ways of 
relief, whether I found present comfort in this 
or not. This was also my only sanctuary 
against guilt ; "Let me be found in him, not 
having mine own righteousness." And, when- 
ever God gave me a fresh beam of this light, 
all difficulties vanished away ; then I rejoiced 
in Christ Jesus, and nothing was able to dis- 
turb me while it lasted : and ever after I was 
then only pleased when I found my soul in 
some measure moulded into a compliance with 
the design of the gospel, emptied of myself, 
subjected to God, and careful to have him alone 
exalted." 

4. A second effect of this discovery was, my 
eye began to be single, looking in all things to 
the glory of God. I now desired that he alone 
(which before I had no real concern for,) might 
be glorified in my life, or by my death. I saw 
that shame and confusion belonged to me, and 
to him only the whole glory of my salvation. 
I watched over the most secret actions of self, 
labouring to renounce it utterly, looking on it 
as my grand enemy, on which I was always to 
have an eye, and counting the power it still 
had my greatest affliction. I never found com- 
fort but when this idol was discernibly abased ; 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 205 

and whenever this light shone, in proportion to 
its clearness and continuance, the interest of 
self was weakened in my soul, and I sought 
not myself, but Christ Jesus. 

5. A third effect of this light was with 
respect to his commandments, which I now 
saw were " not grievous, but right concerning 
all things." I owned his yoke to be easy, and 
his burden light. Amid all temptations, I knew 
the law was holy, just, and good. I perceived, 
too, that it was exceeding broad, extending even 
to the lightest motion of the heart. The duties 
I was most averse from before were now easy, 
pleasant, and refreshing. I saw a peculiar 
beauty in those laws in particular that crossed 
the sins which had the firmest rooting in my 
temper. None were so hateful to me ; for none 
did I loathe myself so much ; none was I so 
glad of a victory over. My mind was continu- 
ally engaged in contrivances for their ruin, 
which formerly I still sought to spare. And 
would God have given me my choice, to have 
the laws against them blotted out, he knows I 
should not have chosen it, and that I should 
have thought his law less pleasant and less 
perfect had these prohibitions been wanting. I 
took pleasure in others only so far as there ap- 
peared in them any thing of an humble, self- 
denying conformity to his law, and had a fixed 
dislike of the least inconformity thereto, either 
in myself or others. In a word, I saw that if 
I could reach holiness, I should have pleasure, 
and peace, and liberty ; that all wisdom's ways 



206 LIFE OF THOMAS KALIBURTON. 

were ways of pleasantness ; nor was any thing 
insupportable to me, but that remaining unsub- 
dued corruption that would not stoop to put its 
neck under her yoke. 

6. A fourth effect of it was, a right sorrow 
for sin, flowing from a deep sense of my ingra- 
titude, to provoke such a God, who had pre- 
vented, and still followed me with so much 
mercy. And this sorrow filled my heart with 
love to God and his way, sweetened my soul, 
and endeared God to it. And the more God 
manifested his kindness, the more it increased ; 
when he was pacified I was ashamed and' con- 
founded ; nor was it a burdensome, but a sweet 
and pleasant sorrow, as being the exercise of 
filial gratitude. This sense of my unkindness, 
when kept within, covered me with blushes; 
and I was eased when God allowed me to vent 
my sense of it, and to pour it, as it were, into 
his bosom. It was likewise a spring of activity 
in the way of duty ; I was glad to be employed 
in the meanest work, which might show how 
deeply sensible I was of my former disobe- 
dience. It was not, as my late sorrow, preg- 
nant with pride, stiffness, and unwillingness to 
suffer any chastisement ; but it humbled, soft- 
ened the soul, and made it willing to " bear the 
indignation of the Lord, since I had sinned 
against him." In a word, I was glad when 
God gave me my measure of it, and grieved 
w r hen I found it wanting, and I cried to the 
Prince exalted for it, as a necessary help to the 
obeying his whole law. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 207 

7. A fifth effect of this light was a comfort- 
able hope of salvation, rising in strength, or 
growing more weak, as the discoveries of the 
way of salvation were more or less clear and 
strong. I knew I could not fail of salvation, 
otherwise than by missing this way. Some- 
times I doubted of myself, but not of the way ; 
so far as I walked in it I was sweetly satisfied 
that my expectation should not. be cut off. And 
as this light showed salvation in a way of self- 
denial and trust only in the Lord, nothing so 
shook this hope as the least appearance of self, 
or stirring of pride. As this sight of the glory 
of the Lord always filled me with shame, so the 
deeper my humiliation the stronger was my 
confidence. And so far was this assurance 
from begetting negligence that it could not 
consist with it. To intermit or neglect duty 
razed the foundation, or at least laid an insur- 
mountable stop in the way of its progress. 

8. Many other effects there were, too long to 
repeat at large. I felt a new and formerly un- 
known love to all who seemed to have any 
thing of the image of God, though known only 
by report ; and this evidenced itself in prayer 
for them, and sympathy with them in their 
afflictions. Again : I found my care of all 
God's concerns enlarged, and I desired more 
and more that he might be exalted upon earth. 
I was grieved at any loss his interest sustained, 
and zealous for his glory. To conclude : I 
found this light sweetly drawing me to a will- 
ing, cheerful endeavour after holiness in all 



208 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

manner of conversation. Thus were all things 
in some measure become new ; and I who a 
little before, with the jailer, had fallen down 
trembling, was now raised and set down to 
feast with the disciples of the Lord, rejoicing 
and believing. 



PART in. 



CHAPTER I. 



1. This glorious discovery was very sur- 
prising. Oft I stood and wondered what this 
strange sight meant. The greatness of the 
things God had done surpassed belief; ami yet 
the effects would not suffer me to doubt ot 
them. Not that I distinctly observed them at 
the very first : the glory of' the Lord was then 
so great, that for a time I iixed my eyes on 
that, and was less intent on the change which 
it wrought in me. Again : I was the less 
exact in observing them then, because of the 
darkness still remaining in me. I clearly saw 
the mystery of free justification through Christ, 
and peace by his blood ; but I was still sadly 
ignorant of many of the most important things 
relating even to that mystery ; as the daily ap- 
plication of that atonement, and the use of 
Christ with respect to sanctification. What 
therefore God did at this time I knew not now, 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 209 

but hereafter, when the Comforter had farther 
instructed me into the gospel, as my exigences 
required ; then, at length, I saw distinctly the 
work of God, and what he had done for me. 

2. This discovery could not but be full of 
ravishing sweetness, considering the state where- 
in it found me. I was condemned by God and 
my own conscience, and under pressing fears 
of the present execution of the sentence. When 
the labours of the day required that I should 
sleep, and my body wasted with the disquiet of 
my mind, yet I was afraid to close my eyes, 
lest I should wake in hell, and durst not sufTer 
myself to sleep, till I was beguiled into it I knew 
not how. Was it strange that the hopes of par- 
don were sweet to one in such a condition, 
whereby I lay down in safety and quiet rest, 
while there was none to make me afraid 1 A 
little before " the waters compassed me about 
even to the soul, the deep closed me round 
about, I went down to the bottoms of the moun- 
tains, and said, I am cast out of God's sight." 
Now, was it any wonder that such a one should 
rejoice, when brought into a garden of delights, 
and set down under the refreshing rays of the 
Sun of righteousness ? And the things he dis- 
covered to me here were not only altogether new, 
and such as I was utterly unacquainted with 
before, but also glorious in themselves. It was 
the glory of the Lord that shone round about 
me ; and I saw such " things as eye hath not 
seen beside thee, O God." In a word, what I 
saw was (what the angels desired to look into) 
14 



210 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

"the mystery of godliness," the wonders of 
God's law, and the " unsearchable riches of his 
mercy." 

3. This discovery was of longer continuance, 
and far brighter, than any I have had since : 
it shone in its glory for ten days ; nor was it 
quite gone for a long time after ; and while it 
lasted, new discoveries were daily made. God 
carried me from one thing to another, and in 
this short space taught me more than I had 
learned by all my study in my whole life. Yea, 
he taught me the things I had learned before, in 
another and quite different manner. Every day 
he instructed me out of the Scriptures, talking 
and walking with me by the way, and opening 
them to me, which before were as a sealed book, 
wherein whatever I read was dark. Indeed, all 
this time my mind was almost, wholly taken up 
about spiritual things; and whatever occurred 
in reading, meditation, converse, or daily obser- 
vations, it (like a mould) cast into its own shape. 
All this while I was carried out to extraordinary 
diligence in duty. It was not, as formerly, a 
burden, but my heart was enlarged, so that I 
ran in the way of God's ordinances and com- 
mandments. And herein my soul often made 
me like "the chariots of Aminadab," not 
easily to be stopped ; sometimes to the disgust 
of those who did not taste the same ravishing 
sweetness which I enjoyed. But the life of all 
was, that God, by keeping his glory continually 
in my eye, kept me humbled and self-denied all 
this while : seeing him, I loathed myself. Be- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 211 

holding his glory, I was " in my own eyes as 
a grasshopper, as nothing, less than nothing, 
and vanity. I gloried only in the Lord, rejoiced 
in Christ Jesus, and had no confidence in the 
flesh." 

4. God had many gracious designs in this. 
I was sore broken and wounded, and he did this 
in tenderness : he bound up my wounds, he 
poured in oil, he made me a bed in my sickness. 
He watched me, and kept me from disturbance, 
till 1 was somewhat strengthened. I had been 
plunged into grievous and hard thoughts of him, 
as if he had forgotten to be gracious. Nor was 
I easily induced to believe good tidings ; yea, 
though it was told me, I could not believe, till 
I had a clear sight of the wagons and provi- 
sions, and then my spirit revived. God, in deep 
condescension, satisfied me that he was love, 
and had no pleasure in my death ; and that the 
wound was not incurable, that it was not the 
wound of an enemy, or the stroke of a cruel 
one, but the wound of a friend, in order to heal- 
ing. He was now to make me sell all for that 
goodly pearl ; and that I might be satisfied with 
my purchase, he let me see both what I was to 
leave, and what I was to obtain. Again : he 
knew what a wilderness I was to go through, 
and therefore fed me before I entered into it. 
Lastly, he designed to give me something which 
might be a stay in all succeeding trials. And 
often since, when my soul has been in heavi- 
ness, have I been cheered by the remembrance 
of it. 



212 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

5. But, alas! I understood not this. I fancied 
this world would last always. I talked of build- 
ing tabernacles here, and knew not I was to 
come down from the mount, and that my Lord 
would depart from me again. I dreamed not of 
learning, or having occasion for war any more. 
I expected no more to fight with my corruptions, 
but thought the enemies which appeared not 
were dead, and that the " Egyptians were all 
drowned in the sea." Accordingly I projected 
to tie myself up to such a bent, and to stint my- 
self to such a method of living, as neither our 
circumstances and temptations, nor our duty in 
this world allows of. I could not endure to 
read those books which were really necessary 
to be read, and all the time I spent in them 
seemed lost. Yea, I began to grudge the time 
which my body absolutely required for sleep, 
or other refreshments. Thus the devil se- 
cretly drove me from one extreme to the other, 
knowing well that I should not rest here, and 
that he could easily throw me back from this 
into the first, of assuming too great a latitude. 
I began likewise to reckon this enlargement of 
heart as my due, and as more mine own than it 
really was ; and I looked on the stock I already 
had as sufficient to carry me through all my 
difficulties ; and saw not that the grace which 
was sufficient for me was yet in the Lord's 
hand. 

6. But now God began to undeceive me. He 
gave me a thorn in the flesh to humble me, and a 
messenger of Satan was sent to buffet me, who 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 213 

soon made me feel the fury of his temptations. 
Hereupon I fell into deep perplexity : I began to 
question the truth of former manifestations, to 
doubt of my own perseverance ; yea, sometimes 
to quarrel secretly with God, as if he had be- 
guiled me. I tried many ways to escape : I 
thought upon God : I complained to him : I 
sought for the causes of my affliction : I " es- 
sayed to shake myself, and go forth" to duty 
*' as before ;" but, alas! the Lord was departed 
from me ; and the enemy, " which lay in my 
bosom, had discovered my secret, and shorn 
me of my strength." 

7. Yet I could not but see, when I recovered 
myself a little after the violence of my conflict, 
that things were better with me now at my worst 
case, than formerly at my best. God frequently 
showed me something of his power and glory ; 
he opened a Scripture, and made my heart burn 
within me ; or unfolded my case, and told me all 
that was in my heart ; or let me see my desire 
upon my enemies. Sometimes he gave me access 
unto him, and made me come even to his seat, 
and pour out my heart before him. And when 
at the lowest, I was otherwise affected to Christ 
than before ; my soul still longed after him ; I 
essayed to stretch out the withered hand, and 
wished for the command, that would empower 
me to lay hold of him. I refused to go any 
where else, but resolved to wait upon him, and 
to trust in him even though he should slay me. 
And as to his law, though I could not run in it, 
my will was still toward it : I had no quarrel to 



214 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

it, but to myself: I breathed after conformity 
with it : I delighted therein after the inward 
man. iVnd as to sin, though I was sometimes 
driven to it, this was just such a forced consent, 
as before I gave to the law. Though it pre- 
vailed, my heart was not with it as before : I 
found another sort of opposition to it ; and if 
ever it gained a victory, I was the more enraged 
against it. Lastly, this coldness was now a 
preternatural state : I cried daily, " When wilt 
thou receive me?" I loathed myself for it; I 
could not rest in it ; I wearied myself with es- 
saying to break my prison ; I looked back to 
former seasons, and said, " O that it were with 
me as in months past !" 



CHAPTER II. 

1. Finding my enemies had gained great ad- 
vantage over me, by the security into which I 
was fallen, though I was unwilling to fight, yet 
upon their appearance I tried what weapons 
would be most successful. I objected to them, 
that now I was engaged to the Lord ; I reason- 
ed with them, I prayed against them. Nor 
could I then see whence it was that they pre- 
vailed ; but God hath since shown me several 
reasons of it. I laid too much stress on the 
grace I had already received; I was not suffi- 
ciently watchful ; the enemy put me on vain 
work; where the sin lay not in the thing 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 215 

itself, but in the degree of it, there he set me 
upon renouncing it in the gross, and rooting out 
what was in itself lawful. Of this I had many 
instances with respect to my passions and 
worldly employments, and converse with sinful 
people. I still neglected some means of God's 
appointment, under pretence of difficulties and 
inconveniences, and so prevented his blessing 
upon the rest. I was sometimes not single in 
my aims ; I wanted a victory which would ease 
me of the trouble of watchfulness. I was weary 
of a fighting life, and desired to conquer that I 
might be at rest. Lastly, when I was not 
quickly heard, I did not persevere in prayer 
" for grace to help in time of need." 

2. Yet was God even then exceeding merci- 
ful to me: he kept me from giving quite over: 
when I had many times gone farthest into tempt- 
ations, yet he came in with seasonable help; 
and frequently, when I was hard pressed, he so 
cleared up to me my own sincerity, as embold- 
ened me to appeal to him, which left me at 
liberty, under this new encouragement, vigor- 
ously to oppose all my enemies. 

3. And God has since let me see what gra- 
cious designs he carried on by these trials. Here- 
by he taught me, that all Christians must be 
soldiers ; that our security as to future tempta- 
tions does not lie in grace already received, but 
in having our way open to the throne of grace ; 
that God deals it out in the proper seasons, 
whereof he alone is able to judge ;* that the 

* See the Preface. 



216 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

covenant of grace doth not promise entire free- 
dom from sins of infirmity, nor even from wilful 
sins, otherwise than in the constant as well as 
careful use of all the means which he hath ap- 
pointed. Hereby too he let me see how dis- 
pleased he was for my cleaving to sin so long. 
The sins that now frequently cast me down 
were those I sought to spare before. God cried 
often to me to part with them, and I would not 
hear; and now God would not hear when I 
cried against them. Hereby also he discovered 
the riches of that forgiveness that is with him, 
that it reaches sins of all sorts, multiplied re- 
lapses not excepted. He that requires us to 
forgive seventy times seven offences a day, will 
not do less himself. And finally, he fitted me 
hereby to compassionate and comfort others 
also who were tempted. 

4. During all this time, beside sins of infir- 
mity, my corruptions did sometimes bear me 
down to relapses,* both into omissions of duties, 
and commissions of known sins. And these, 
being sins against light, love, and all sorts of 
engagements, lay heavy upon my conscience. 
1 was much perplexed about them, my bones 
were broken, my spirit wounded exceedingly. 

5. At some times, indeed, I was for a while 
"hardened by the deceitfulness of sin," and 
senseless ; at other times my heart instantly 
smote me, and I was immediately after my fall 
stirred up to the exercise of repentance. But 

* See the Preface. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 217 

sooner or later God set my sins in order before 
me, either by some outward or inward affliction, 
(often so remarkably chosen, that the sin was 
wrought upon the punishment,) or by his word, 
or his Holy Spirit in his ordinances, which told 
me all that I had done. 

6. Then was my soul troubled with fear and 
shame and a sense of his anger, by which Satan 
often sought to drive me to despair. But God 
graciously brake the force of this temptation, 
sometimes by distant discoveries of forgiveness, 
sometimes by reminding me of his former kind- 
ness, or showing me the fatal issue of casting 
away my confidence. And when the tempta- 
tion was most violently urged, I thought it no 
time to dispute, but allowed the worst the tem- 
per could suggest, and then laid my case, in all 
its aggravations, to the extensive promises of 
the covenant, " Be it granted," said I, " that I 
am but a hypocrite ; that I never obtained par- 
don ; that I am the chief of sinners ; that my 
sins have such aggravations as the sins of no 
other man ever had ; yet the blood of Christ 
cleanseth from all sin, and he came to save the 
chief of sinners." 

7. When I had got thus far, I got up again as 
I could, and sought him in all the duties of his 
appointment. Nor was it long (if I humbly and 
patiently continued in this way) before I found 
him, as at the first. He set my sin, in all its 
aggravations, before me ; he led me up to origi- 
nal sin, the source of all ; he cut off all excuses, 
and left me self convicted, owning that any 



218 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

punishment on this side hell would be mercy. 
Then he stepped in and made a gracious disco- 
very of " the fountain opened for sin and for 
uncleanness." He drew my soul to close with, 
and with trembling to lay stress upon it. Hav- 
ing by this look drawn my eyes to look at him 
again, while I looked, my soul melted into tears ; 
my heart, before bound up, was loosed ; and my 
lips, before closed, were opened. While he 
thus answered me, and I could scarce believe 
the news, " he created peace by the fruit of his 
lips," and as it were forced it upon my soul, and 
" shed abroad his love in my heart." 

8. Before I conclude this head, I must ob- 
serve, (1.) That sometimes this work was 
wrought gradually ; sometimes all at once, and 
in a moment. (2.) Sometimes I sought peace 
long before I obtained it ; sometimes God sur- 
prised me immediately upon my sin, before I 
had thought in the least what I had done, and 
gave me such a look as made me weep bitterly. 
And when it was thus, it pierced through my 
soul, filling me with the deepest loathing of 
myself, and the highest wonder at the riches, 
freedom, and astonishing sovereignty of his 
grace. 

9. There was a great difference as to the con- 
tinuance of these impressions, and likewise as 
to the degrees of them. At some times, my 
convictions and humiliations were deeper, and 
my faith and hope far clearer, than at others. 
But amidst all these accidental differences, the 
substance of the work was always the same. I 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIEURTON. 219 

would observe, lastly, that the most terrible ene- 
mies are not the most dangerous. While I was 
attacked by plain sins, I was easily convinced 
and alarmed at them, which was attended with 
all these happy effects ; whereas I have been 
since assaulted by less discernible evils, sins 
under the mask of duties ; and these secretly de- 
vour the strength, and are difficultly discovered 
in their exceeding sinfulness. 

I must not pass over without notice, that when 
I first felt forgiveness of sins, I was much exer- 
cised with, and troubled for, sins of infirmity 
and daily incursion. Of this I shall give a more 
distinct account. (1.) When God manifested 
himself, his enemies fled before him ; they re- 
ceived a stunning stroke, and vanished away at 
the brightness of his appearing. He for a time 
bore down corruption, chained up Satan, and 
kept me from any of the least disturbance from 
them. (2,) It was some time before my stronger 
enemies appeared again ; presumptuous sins did 
not soon approach me : I first found the remain- 
ing power of sin only by the invasion of sins of 
daily infirmity, particularly deadness in prayer. 
(3.) Hereupon I began to be much discouraged, 
neither understanding my present state, nor the 
provision made for the cause in the covenant 
of grace, by a daily application of the blood of 
atonement. (4.) When my fond expectation 
was disappointed, I at first essayed to humble 
myself distinctly for each of these transgres- 
sions. But finding my whole time would not 
suffice for this, i was obliged to go with them 



220 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

all at once, and plunge into the fountain opened 
for sin and for uncleanness. I took a view of 
myself defiled by innumerable evils, and under 
a sense of them cast myself on the glorious 
atonement, and relied for the cleansing of me 
from them all on that blood which cleanseth 
from all sin. (5.) To clear this matter yet far- 
ther, I observe, that the light which first dis- 
covered this plenteous redemption, though vari- 
ously clouded, yet was never quite lost. A child 
of light is never in utter darkness. He has, 
indeed, a summer's sun, that shines longer, 
brighter, and warmer ; and his winter's sun, 
which shines more faintly. He has fair and 
rainy days : he has a changeable intercourse 
of day and night ; but light more or less there 
is still. 

10. Upon the whole, we may remark, (1.) 
That we may heal our wounds slightly ; hut it 
is God's prerogative to speak solid peace. (2.) 
That considering our unbelief, and pride of heart, 
it is not easy to win a sinner to believe that 
the forgiveness which is with God is able to 
answer all his necessities. And when the soul 
is in some measure satisfied with this, and will- 
ing to come to God daily for grace and mercy, 
it is not easy to keep up either a due abhor- 
rence of sin, or a due sense of that boundless 
mercy. Yea, here lies one of the greatest 
secrets of practical godliness, and the highest 
attainment in close walking with God, to come 
daily and wash, and yet retain as high a value 
for this discovery of forgiveness as if it were 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 221 

only to be had once and no more. The more 
we see of it, the more, doubtless, we ought to 
value it ; whereas, on the contrary, unless the 
utmost care be used, our hearts turn formal, and 
count it a common thing. I observe, (3.) That 
the joy of the Lord is then only to be retained, 
when we walk tenderly and circumspectly ; be- 
ing inconsistent not only with any gross sin, but 
with any remissness of behaviour. And, lastly, 
that when I was at the lowest ebb, I have often 
recovered myself by thankfulness. If you ask, 
what I had then to be thankful for ; I answer, I 
began thus ; " What a mercy is it, I am out of 
hell ! Blessed be the Lord for this." Again : 
" What a mercy is it, that he hath given me to 
see, and thank him for, that mercy ! Blessed 
be the Lord for this likewise." And thus I have 
gone on, till he hath led me to a sense of his 
love, and restored comfort to my soul. 



CHAPTER III. 

1. I before mentioned the trials I had about 
the being of a God, almost as soon as I had any 
concern about religion. But at first I had no 
argument urged against it ; only, seeing this 
was the hinge on which all religion turned, I 
found myself at a loss for evidence so clear, 
and strong, and convincing as I thought neces- 
sary, with respect to a truth whereon so much 
weight was to be laid. I said, " Very great 



222 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

things are demanded of me, and I am called to 
hope for great things ; but before I trust so far, 
I would know more of that God in whom I am 
to trust." 

2. But afterward, when I was more estranged 
from God, and intent upon abstract subtleties, 
the devil took his opportunity, and said daily, 
" Where is now thy God ?" He then triumph- 
ed, " Where is now that mouth with which thou 
hast so often reproached atheists ? These are 
the arguments they have : come forth then, try 
thy strength, and fight them." 

3. Hereupon a sharp conflict began, in which 
I used various ways. Sometimes I rejected his 
suggestions, and refused them a hearing. Some- 
times I tried to answer his arguments ; but the 
longer I stood arguing the case, I was always 
at the greater loss. Then I would wish for a 
discovery of God himself: O that I knew where 
I might find him! Whence the enemy failed 
not to infer, " If there was a God, he would 
help one who was thus standing up for him, in 
such a strait." Sometimes I prayed ; and though 
Satan urged me with the unreasonableness of 
praying till I was sure there was a God, yet I 
always thought, " If there be one, he can best 
satisfy me as to his own being." 

4. And he did satisfy me in part, (1.) By 
clear discoveries of the tendency of these temp- 
tations, namely, to cast reproach on all the best 
and wisest of men, and to destroy the found- 
ations of all human happiness. (2.) By some 
glimpses of his glory, even in the works of 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 223 

creation. (3.) By some beams of light from his 
word ; and more than once in particular, by- 
suggesting to my mind, with power, that answer 
of the three children : " Nebuchadnezzar, we 
are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to 
deliver Us from the burning fiery furnace, and 
he will deliver us out of thine hand. But if 
not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we 
will not serve thy god, nor worship the golden 
image thou hast set up." 

5. But yet I was not fully relieved : nothing 
but a discovery of God could give a full defeat 
to Satan. But considering then I was an un- 
humbled enemy, God could not have appeared 
otherwise than as an enemy ; and this my 
nature could not bear. I could not have thus 
seen his face and lived. Wherefore he led me 
another way : he discovered sin to me first, and 
hereby broke the force of the temptation ; and 
having humbled me, he then discovered himself 
in his glory in Christ Jesus. 

6. This it was which gave me full satisfac- 
tion : while God commanded this light to shine 
on my mind, I could not desire a clearer proof 
of his being : all his enemies fled before it ; all 
the mountains of opposition shook at the pre- 
sence of the Lord, and were carried into the 
midst of the sea. I had now manifold evi- 
dences of this glorious truth. I had, (1.) The 
evidence of sight : by the eye of faith I saw 
the glory of God as represented in the word, 
shining with the clearest lustre: it not only 



224 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

convinced me of its own reality, but that, in a 
manner, nothing else was real. This sight 
gave me more consistent, becoming notions of 
God, his nature, and attributes, than ever I at- 
tained before ; and so shook the very founda- 
tions of those doubts which flowed purely from 
my ignorance of his nature. (2.) I had the evi- 
dence of the ear : I heard him speak, and his 
voice sufficiently distinguished itself from the 
voice of any creature. He first spoke terror to 
me from Sinai ; and when my soul was as the 
troubled sea, he said unto it, " Peace, be still ; 
and there was a great calm." His words had 
light and power peculiar to God with them, both 
when he spoke for me and against me : they 
made me taste and see that the Lord is good, 
and that ' ; blessed is he that trusteth in him." 
All my objections were solved. As to the 
seeming inconsistency of his attributes, at the 
time he condescended to show me his back 
parts, he satisfied me " that no man can behold 
his face.'' He gave me a view of his incom- 
prehensibility which silenced all those sugges- 
tions. And as to the seeming disorders in his 
government, a plain answer was, "He giveth 
account to none : his way is in the sea ; his 
paths in the great waters, and his footsteps are 
not known." 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 225 

CHAPTER IV. 

1. This temptation, as observed before, did 
not attack me so soon as the former ; but it was 
managed in much the same way. Sometimes 
my mind only hung in suspense, for want of 
sufficient evidence. Sometimes I was strangely 
harassed with multiplied objections, either by 
the books I read, the enemies of the word with 
whom I conversed, or by Satan, whose sugges- 
tions were far the most subtle and most per- 
plexing of all. 

2. This trial was more grievous than even 
the former. These objections were equally de- 
structive of all religion, and were far more 
numerous, more plausible, and entertained by 
persons of a fairer character. Besides, the evi- 
dence of this truth lay farther from the reach 
of an enlightened mind. 

3. I tried many ways to escape. Besides 
prayer and attending public ordinances, I read 
many books written in defence of the Scrip- 
tures. And this wanted not its use : I got a 
rational conviction of the truth, and so was 
emboldened to plead for it against its enemies ; 
and I found answers to many particular objec- 
tions, which encouraged me to wait for full 
satisfaction. But that I found not yet : this 
being but the wisdom of men had not power to 
silence temptations, to enlighten me to see the 
evidence of God in his word, or to give a relish 
for it to an indisposed soul. 

4. God began to break the force of this tempt- 

15 



226 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

ation, when his word fastened a sense of guilt 
on my soul ; though this rather extorted an 
assent than induced to a cheerful acquiescence 
therein, as coming from God. But when he 
gave me that light which repelled ail tempta- 
tions, which revived and comforted a soul 
bowed down before. I instantly closed with 
his word as the word of life ; I rejoiced as one 
that had found a hid treasure ; I was sweetly 
satisfied that it came from him, and that by 
many evidences : for, 

(1.) All discoveries of guilt were made by 
it. God by this spoke in my ear sins which 
none save he who searcheth the heart could 
know, which I knew not, nor any creature else. 
By it the secrets of my heart were manifest, so 
that I was compelled to own that God was in 
it of a truth. I could not but cry out, " Come, 
see a book which told me all that ever I did. 
Is not this the book of God V 

(2.) All the discoveries he made of his anger 
were made by the holy Scriptures. It was by 
them that his wrath was dropped into my soul, 
and revealed from heaven against me. It was 
by the same that he let in upon my soul the 
glorious discovery of his being; attributes, and 
his whole will concerning my salvation by 
•Jesus Christ. By the same, he conveyed all 
those quickening, converting, transforming, sup- 
porting, composing influences, and let me see 
the other ; * wonders of his law, excellent things 
in counsel of knowledge." By this he was 
pleased to reveal the craft, the power, the act- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 227 

ings, and the designs of my enemies ; his own 
designs in my trials, and something of his 
secret designs in many of his public adminis- 
trations- 

(3.) As all these influences and discoveries 
were conveyed by his word, so by the peculiar 
light and power that attended them he evi- 
denced that his name was there. It taught, 
not as the greatest, the wisest, the best of men ; 
but with another sort of authority and weight ; 
it spake as never man spake. Whatever it 
said, my conscience stood to. When it chal- 
lenged me for what I knew not to be faults, no 
defences availed : I was no sooner accused than 
arraigned, convicted, and condemned. In like 
manner, when God hereby spoke peace, he cre- 
ated it. The dead heard, and the hearer lived. 
Temptations after it spoke not again. W^hen I 
was self-destroyed, self-condemned, and cast 
hereby into the greatest agony, yet whenever 
he sent his word it healed me : my soul was 
commanded to be at peace, and there ensued a 
glorious calm. 

5. And whereas my enemies had often asked 
me how I could distinguish the real among so 
many pretended revelations — God himself now 
gave me a reply : " The prophet that hath a 
dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath 
my word, let him speak my word faithfully. 
What is the chaff to the wheat ? saith the 
Lord. Is not my word like as a fire ; and like 
a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?" 
Jer. xxiii, 28, 29. And he was pleased par- 



228 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

ticularly to speak those things whereat I had 
stumbled to my soul ; which both humbled me 
for my former unbelief, and encouraged me to 
hope that I should know other things" hereafter 
which I understood not now. Again : he satis- 
fied me as to many things, that the time of 
knowing them was not yet ; and that when he 
saw the proper season to be come, he would 
show me plainly of them. He let me see his 
wisdom and goodness in thus training me up to 
dependance for learning of him what I knew 
not ; and showed me that it was my duty to 
meditate in his law day and night, and to search 
the Scriptures with all humility ; since " the 
secret of the Lord is only with those that fear 
him, and he will show none but them his co- 
venant." 

6. When after this I read the Scriptures, and 
found not that powerful light shining with that 
warming, quickening, dazzling glory, yet I found 
an habitual light in my soul, whereby I could 
almost everywhere discern part of the glory of 
the Lord ; and by this I was overawed, and 
brought still to regard them as the. word of God. 
A light was still reflected on the whole Scrip- 
ture ; and I was ordinarily enabled to perceive 
how worthy of him, and like himself, every 
thing was which I read there. And by this 
abiding light I was capable of discerning therein 
discoveries of the actings of sin and grace with 
a penetration and exactness beyond the reach of 
any, save the omniscient and only wise God. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 229 



CHAPTER V. 

1. I before showed that when I was in doubt 
about the holy Scriptures, the devil often sug- 
gested to me, " How can you expect satisfaction 
in these things, when men of so much greater 
abilities have sought it in vain ?" And this sug- 
gestion was often so violently urged, that I had 
no spirit left in me. 

2. But when God discovered himself to me 
in his own light, the force of this temptation 
was utterly broken ; though I had not a particu- 
lar sight of the weakness of it, till I read (some 
time after) the first three chapters of the First 
Epistle to the Corinthians. The substance of 
what God then showed me was, 

(1.) That his great design in the method of 
salvation he had chosen was to stain the pride 
of all human glory, " that no flesh might glory 
in his sight, but he that glorieth might glory in 
the Lord." (2.) That a vain* ambition to be 
wise above what God allowed, was the spring 
and chief part of our apostacy from God ; and 
still "vain man would be wise ; the Jews ask a 
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom." (3.) 
That in order to the attainment of the foregoing 
design, and to the recovery of man from his 
apostacy, it was plainly necessary that this am- 
bition, being a flat opposition to his design, and 
a principal part of his corruption, should be 
removed. It was requisite, that God should 
"destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring 



230 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

to naught the understanding of the prudent." 
(4.) God, to vindicate his own wisdom reproach- 
ed by this vain ambition of man, to fix an eter- 
nal blot on human wisdom, and to discover his 
holy severity in punishing this ambition, with 
the other wickednesses of vain man, " suffered," 
for many ages, " all nations to walk in their own 
ways," and to try whether they were better than 
God's ways, whether they could supply the de- 
fects wmich they fondly imagined God had made 
them with, or relieve themselves from the mise- 
ry of their apostacy. And the event answered 
the design of his wisdom and justice^ and the 
desert of those who made the attempt. For 
after the fruitless endeavours of four thousand 
years, " the world by wisdom knew not God 4 " 
They missed the mark: "their foolish hearts 
were darkened; seeking to be wise, they be- 
came fools ;" instead of getting their eyes open- 
ed to see more than God allowed, they could 
see nothing but their own nakedness ; and so 
imperfect were . the discoveries even of that, 
that they imagined fig-leaves would cover it. 
(5.) After they had spent the time allotted for 
showing the vanity of their own, wisdom, God, 
in the depth of his compassion, stepped in to 
their relief ; and in order thereto, was pleased 
to pitch upon a way quite opposite to all the 
wisdom of foolish man. He chose not " the 
enticing words of man's wisdom," or eloquence ; 
it was not suitable to the truth of God to use 
that mean art, whereby the judgments of men 
are led blindfold in subjection to their passions. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 231 

He made no choice of artificial reasonings, the 
other eye of human wisdom. It did not become 
the majesty of God to dispute men into a com- 
pliance with his will. And although he wrought 
signs to awaken the attention of a drowsy world, 
to gain respect to his ambassadors, to strengthen 
the faith of weak believers, and to cut off every 
plea from unbelief; yet he chose them not 
chiefly to convert and recover the world, being 
unwilling so to derogate from his word, as if 
the word of God were not, upon its own evi- 
dence, worthy the acceptation of all rational 
creatures. (6.) God, having rejected all these, 
made use of "the foolishness of preaching;" 
that is, a plain declaration of his will in his 
name, " in the demonstration of the Spirit and 
power," by men commissioned by him for that 
purpose. Now this was a means every way 
worthy of God. Man had believed the devil 
rather than God ; the devil seemed to have 
gained a great advantage, by persuading man in 
his integrity to credit him, and discredit God. 
God now cast back the shame on him, by en- 
gaging fallen man to renounce the devil, and 
upon his bare word give up Satan and all that 
adhered to him. And farther to manifest his 
design, as he made use of the foolishness of 
preaching, so he chose for his ambassadors, not 
the learned disputers of the world, but foolish, 
weak, illiterate men, that by things which in 
appearance " are not, he might bring to naught 
those that are." Lastly, to lay man lower yet, 
that "the Lord alone miffht be exalted," he chose 



232 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

not for his people such as the world would have 
thought stood fairest for mercy ; but he chose, 
for the general, the most miserable and con- 
temptible of mankind: "not many wise, not 
many noble, not many mighty, are called ; but 
God hath chosen the foolish things of this world 
to confound the wise." 

3. Hence God showed me, that it was to be 
expected, and was indeed inevitable, that a great 
opposition should be everywhere made to his 
gospel ; that this opposition would principally 
be by pretenders to wisdom, and learned men ; 
that their objections must be against all the con- 
cernments of the gospel, the matter, manner, 
means of it, all being opposite to their expecta- 
tions * and that therefore it was no wonder ta 
see some stumble at the cross, some at the 
preaching, some at the preachers ; that it was 
to be expected their objections would be spe- 
cious, as being suited to the wisdom of men, 
the natural apprehension of all who were not 
brought to a compliance with the grand design 
of God. Lastly : that it was impossible for any 
man, who was not brought to be a fool in his 
own eyes, to be wise in the things of God, or to 
discern and approve of the conduct of God in 
this whole matter. 

4. Upon this discovery I was fully satisfied, 
that the opposition of learned men, and their un- 
successfulness in their inquiries, was so far from 
being just prejudice to, that it was a strong con- 
firmation of, the truths of religion ; and, on the 
other hand, that though they were, in the wis- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 233 

dom of God, hid from the wise and prudent, yet 
babes might have a clear discovery thereof, be- 
cause it had pleased the Father to reveal these 
things to them. 

5. Another common objection, which had 
made at some times a considerable impression 
upon my mind, was, that the Scriptures are con- 
trary to reason. I shall just point at the springs 
of my belief. 

First : I was long before fixed in a deep, ra- 
tional conviction of the shortness of human 
knowledge, and that there was no truth which 
we receive, whether upon the evidence of meta- 
physical, mathematical, or moral principles, or 
even on the evidence of our senses, against 
which there lay not insoluble objections. Yet 
no man questioned these truths ; nor, though we 
endeavoured it ever so much, could we doubt 
of many of them. And as this was one of the 
most considerable fruits of my studies in philo- 
sophy, so it was of use to me many ways ; it 
made me see through the vanity of that pre- 
tence against the truths revealed by God, that 
there lie unanswerable objections against them. 
This I plainly saw ought not to shake my assent, 
if I found sufficient evidence for them ; especi- 
ally as I was convinced it was reasonable to 
expect more inextricable difficulties about truths 
supernaturally revealed than others, since they 
lie farther out of our reach. Therefore, when 
any such occurred,, I was rather led to suspect 
my own ignorance than the truths of God. 

Secondly : God had before fixed in me the 



234 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

faith of his incomprehensibility, and fully con- 
vinced me that I could not know him to perfec- 
tion ; he let me see that " his ways are not as 
our ways," so that I durst not any more attempt 
to measure him, or his ways, by my short line, 
but in ail things I rested in the resolution of his 
word. " To the law and to the testimony" I 
brought all ; and where that clearly interposed, 
my soul was now taught fully to acquiesce in, 
and stand to, its determination. 

Thirdly : When the enemy strongly attacked 
any particular truth, and I could not instantly 
solve his objections, I was much relieved by a 
view of the multiplied testimonies of the word, 
all running the same way. And when by con- 
sulting interpreters, especially critics, I was 
darkened rather than cleared, I had recourse to 
the scope of the words, and the plain meaning 
that first occurred, with an humble dependance 
on God for his light. 

Fourthly: If for a time, by the subtle perver- 
sion of some scriptures, I could not find the 
true meaning of them, the analogy of faith 
stayed my mind, till I could recover those parti- 
cular passages out of the enemy's hand : when 
God manifested himself to me, he gave me a 
view of his whole design in the revelation he 
had made of himself, and of the harmonious 
consent and concurrence of all the doctrine of 
the gospel, in promoting that design. He 
showed me, likewise, how the end and the 
means were so closely linked together, that one 
of these truths could not be overturned but all 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBTJRTON. 235 

the rest would follow. Whenever therefore any 
of them was controverted, its connection with the 
other truths, uniformly and plainly attested by 
the current of Scripture, presented itself ; and 
my mind was satisfied this could not fall with- 
out they all fell together. This I take to be 
the analogy of faith, and herein I often took 
sanctuary. 

6. I before mentioned what a continual bond- 
age I was long in, through fear of death. I shall 
now give some account of my relief from this 
also. 

First : The Lord's mercy manifested in Christ 
freed me from this spirit of bondage, and gave 
me a taste of the liberty of the sons of God. 
He in great measure removed the. grounds 
whereon I most feared it, viz., sin the sting of 
death, and want of evidence about the reality of 
divine things. 

Secondly : Whereas there still continued 
some fear upon a near prospect of it, I was 
much relieved by God's promise that we should 
" not be tempted above what Ave were able to 
bear," especially when I recollected my former 
experience. I remember one day in particular, 
I was oppressed with the fear of death, when 
God mercifully suggested to me, " Hast thou 
not shrunk under the remote prospect of other 
trials, and yet been carried through them? Why 
shouldest thou distrust him as to future trials 
who hath so often helped thee in time of need ?" 
I then considered, it is no way proper that God 
should give his grace before our trial comes ,• 



236 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

but rather that he should keep us humble and 
dependant, by reserving it in his own hand, and 
teach us to submit to his wisdom, as to the 
measure and time of performing his own pro- 
mises. And I have ever since rested in this faith, 
that " the Lord is a God of judgment," and, that 
" blessed are all they who wait on him;" not 
doubting either his faithfulness as to the accom- 
plishment of his promises, or judgment as to 
the right timing and measuring them, in pro- 
portion to our necessities. Hereupon I rest to 
this day : I dare not say, " I have faith or grace 
sufficient to carry me through death ;" I dare not 
say, " I am ready to die ;" I dare not say, " I have 
no fear of death ;" but this I say, " There is 
sufficient grace laid up for me in the promise ; 
there is a throne of grace to have recourse to ; 
and there is a God of judgment, who will not 
withhold it, when it is really the time of need." 



PART IV. 



CHAPTER I. 

1. When I was under the violent stragglings 
before mentioned, I had laid aside all thoughts 
of the ministry ; for I could not entertain a thought 
of preaching to others what I did not believe my- 
self. But now the scene being changed, I was, 
after long deliberation and fervent prayer, deter- 
mined to comply with my mother's desire, (who 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 237 

had devoted me from my childhood to this 
work,) with the advice of my most pions friends, 
the importunity of many others, and the motions 
of my own heart. For I had a lively sense of 
the strong obligation laid upon me, to lay out 
myself in the service of my good master ; and 
I thought the nearer my employment related to 
him, the happier it would be. 

2. Accordingly, on May 1st, 1700, I entered 
into holy orders, and, May 5th, began mv ministry 
at Ceres. 



From this time he prepared his sermons with 
much secret prayer for a blessing thereon, both 
to himself and his hearers. His practice also 
was, exactly to review and remark his beha- 
viour in public duties ; what assistance and en- 
largement of heart he obtained, and what con- 
cern for the souls of his hearers. When he 
fell short, it was matter of humiliation to him ; 
when he was assisted, of greater gratitude and 
watchfulness. 

3. Knowing he was to watch over souls as 
one that must give account, he had the weight 
of this charge much upon his spirit : he there- 
fore laboured to know the state of the souls of 
his flock, that he might be able to guide them 
according to their particular cases. In order 
thereto, he was diligent in visiting all the fami- 
lies within his parish, instructing his people by 
catechising, and in marking their proficiency in 
the knowledge of the gospel. Especially before 
administering the Lord's supper, he conversed 



238 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

severally with those who desired to partake 
thereof, to try what sense they had of real re- 
ligion ; what influence the word of God had had 
upon them, and what fruits of it were in their 
hearts and lives, that he might deal with their 
consciences accordingly. 

4. Take an instance of this in his own words. 
July 8th, 1703. "I have now spent about a 
month in converse with my people, and I observe 
the few following things :" — 

First : " That of three or four hundred per- 
sons there were not above forty who had not at 
one time or other been more or less awakened, 
though with far the greater part it came to no 
length. Whence it is plain that God leaves 
not himself without witness, even in the bosom 
of his enemies, but sooner or later so far touched 
the hearts of all men, as will dreadfully enhance 
the guilt of those who put out the light, and 
quench his Spirit." 

Secondly : " That some of those, whom it 
has pleased God to awaken by my ministry, 
promise more than flowers, even fruit ; and that 
most acknowledge, that the word comes nearer 
them daily, which makes me ashamed of my 
own negligence, and astonished at the goodness 
of God, who blesses my weak labours notwith- 
standing." 

Thirdly: "That though God may make use 
of the words of man, in letting us into the 
meaning of the Scriptures, yet it is ordinarily 
the very Scripture word, whereby he conveys 
any comfort or advantage." 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTOX. 239 

5. Hearing about this time of some who were 
much swayed by good people, in dark steps of 
their ministerial work, I was satisfied in the 
evident clearness of the following rules. 

First : That it is very dangerous to lay much 
stress on the apprehensions of the best of peo- 
ple as to what may be sin or duty in things 
that belong not to their station ; for the promise 
of the Spirit's teachings belong not to them, as 
to what may concern a minister's station. 
Therefore, it is safer to desire their prayers, 
that God would, according to his promise, dis- 
cover to us what is our duty, than to learn them 
to step out of their stations, and advise in things 
that belong not to them. 

Secondly : In consulting others for licrht, 
great regard should be had to the different "tal- 
ents of men. In matters of soul exercise, most 
regard should be had to those whom God has 
fitted with endowment that way. In matters 
of government, most regard should be had to 
those whom he has fitted that way. 

Thirdly: The holiest men are most likely to 
know God's mind ; but to know who are the 
holiest, we must consider, not only what men's 
behaviour, but what their temptations, are : for 
one, in whom less appears, may indeed have 
more grace than another, who seems to have 
more ; when the one is continually plunged 
in floods of temptation, and the other is free 
from them. 

Observe, fourthly, that ministers are common- 
ly more shaken about the truths of religion than 



240 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

about their own state; but the people, more 
about their own state than about the truths of 
religion. And as ministers are assisted to clear 
the people as to what they are straitened about ; 
so are the people^ often enabled to help their 
ministers as to what occasions their uneasiness. 
Thus they mutually excel and are excelled, to 
humble both, and keep both in their stations. 

As to clearing up our duty in doubtful cases, 
observe, lastly, that there is ever a bias to one 
way or the other; that we must seek to have 
this removed, and cry to God to bring our hearts 
to an equal willingness to take either or neither 
way ; that when this is attained, we must use 
our best reason, and take the way that appears 
most proper ; though still crying to him, that 
he would put a stop to us, if we be out of the 
road. If he afford light in any other particular 
way, we must use it, still taking care to seek 
light soberly, to use it tenderly, and to be wary 
in the application of it. 

6. July 2d, 1702.— God about this time giv- 
ing me somewhat of a revival from a long dead- 
ness, I think myself concerned to take notice 
of the means by which I obtained this benefit. 
And, (1.) It was signally promoted by converse 
with zealous Christians. I found, that as " iron 
sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a 
man his friend." (2.) By some heavy strokes 
laid upon me. (3.) By terrible providences to 
the public. (4.) By some papers seasonably 
brought to my hands, containing the exercise 
of some real Christians, wherein I saw how 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 241 

far short I was of them, and also not a few of 
the causes of my sadly withered and decayed 
state. (5.) By some discovery of the vanity 
of my sweetest enjoyments. And, lastly, by 
God's leading me to some subjects which I 
chose for others, but wherein I found my own 
case remarkably touched. 

7. March 12th, 1705. — I was far out of order. 
" Lord, pity and shine upon me." At night, 1 
was somewhat refreshed in family worship. In 
meditation hereon, I saw unbelief was the root 
of all my misery. I was broken on account of 
it ; I cried to God for relief, '' O manifest thy- 
self to my soul!" I was much grieved that, 
at a time when. so mmy strange evils abound, 
there should be so strange a stupidity on my 
spirit, that I could not mourn for the dishonour 
done to God. I cried for a spirit of supplica- 
tion and repentance. 

8. April 17th, 1705. — I was much disordered 
in body ; but about seven at night I was a little 
relieved. Yet bowing my knees to prayer. I 
was full of perplexity ; the Lord hid himself, 
and my spirit was overwhelmed ; but meeting 
with that scripture, " Having therefore, brethren, 
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus, by a new and living way which he 
hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is 
to say, his flesh ;" I found my mind composed. 
But O that it were with me as in months past ! 

9. Feb. 24th, 1706. — Being the Lord's day, 
I was sore shaken in the morning about the 
truths of God, but came to peace as to what I 

16 



242 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBTJRTON. 

was to preach, in three things. " Lord, thou 
hast fully satisfied me," that, (1.) All other 
courses to satisfaction in our great concern, 
besides that of the gospel, are utterly vain and 
unsatisfactory. (2.) That, supposing the truth 
of the gospel, there is a plenary security as to 
all I can desire in time or in eternity. And, 
(3.) That it can be only the wretched unbelief 
of my heart that makes me ever hesitate con- 
cerning the truth of it, seeing I have full evi- 
dence for it, far beyond what in other things 
would absolutely cut off all hesitation. I will 
look then for faith to the Author of it : Lord, I 
believe, help thou miiie unbelief! Thou hast so 
fixed me in the belief of these three truths, that 
no temptation hath been able to shake me. 

10. In the spring, 1707, some, of the follow- 
ers of Mrs. Bourignon coming into his parish, 
he laboured to guard his people against the in- 
fection of their specious errors ; a short account 
whereof he gives in the following words : — 

April 20th, 1707. — This day the Lord direct- 
ed me to strike at the root of the prevailing 
delusion, in opposition to which I taught, 

First : That true holiness will not admit of 
leaving out some duties ; whereas these devo- 
tees, while they withdraw from the world, omit 
the unquestionable duties both of general use- 
fulness among men, and of diligence in their 
particular callings. 

Secondly : That holiness consists not in a 
strict observation of rules of our own invention, 
such as most of theirs are. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 243 

Thirdly : That whatever holiness those pro- 
fess who neglect the ordinances of God, none 
can reasonably conclude that they are in any 
thing influenced by the authority of the Lord 
Jesus ;. for the same authority binds to the one 
as well as to the other. 

Lastly : That the most effectual inducement 
to universal obedience is a sense that our sins 
are forgiven us still kept fresh upon our souls, 
and a constant improvement of the blood of 
Christ by faith. 

11. Jan. 11th, 1708. — In the morning I arose 
greatly indisposed in my body. Before church 
1 was somewhat relieved, but immediately after 
sermon seized with vomiting. Lord, lead me 
to some suitable improvement. 

Jan. 12th was a day I set apart for examin- 
ing the state of my soul ; chiefly on these 
heads : (1.) Are daily sins and sins of infirmity 
searched, observed, weighed, mourned for ? 
And do I exercise faith distinctly, in order to 
the pardon of them ? (2.) Does the impression 
of the necessity and excellence of Christ's blood 
decay ? Are the experiences of its use and 
efficacy distinct as before ? (3.) Am I formal 
in worship ? in secret, family, public prayer ? 
desiring blessing on meat, returning thanks ? 
meditation and reading ? (4.) Is there due 
concern for the flock ? singleness and diligence 
in ministerial duties ? prayers for them, &c. 1 
(5.) Is there sympathy with afflicted saints and 
churches ? (6.) Is the voice of the rod heard, 
calling to deniedness to relations, even the 



244 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

dearest ? deniedness to the world, to life 1 pre- 
paration for death ? spirituality in duty ? 

12. October 12th, 1709. — Being seized with 
a violent flux and griping, yet God kept me 
submissive without repining ; and brought me 
to commit the disposal of all to him, crying for 
a removal of any aversion to his will. And, as 
to my ministry, though I felt much remorse for 
the want of wrestling with God for the suc- 
cess of his word among the people, yet it was 
refreshing that I durst say in the sight of God 
that I was really concerned to know the truth ; 
that I kept back none which might be profit- 
able for them; that I preached what I resolved 
to venture my soul on, and that I desired to 
preach home to their consciences. 



CHAPTER II. 

1. When God convinced me that it was not 
meet I should be alone, he also clearly con- 
vinced me that " a prudent wife is from the 
Lord." I looked, therefore, and cried to, and 
waited on him for direction, with that eminent 
freedom and preparation of heart which gave a 
fixed hope he would incline his ear and bless 
me in my choice. 

2. The command, " Be not unequally yoked 
with unbelievers," was so strongly impressed 
on my soul that no prospect of outward advan- 
tage could have swayed me to choose one void 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 245 

of the fear of God. But whether to choose on 
the testimony of others, or from personal ac- 
quaintance, I couid not easily determine. 

3. At last, inclining to think a personal ac- 
quaintance necessary, I pitched on one who 
appeared suitable to me ; and who falling at 
that time under some unusual concern about 
religion, which she imparted to me, it looked 
like a providential clearing of the way ; on 
which I too hastily proceeded in the proposal : 
yet I never durst pray absolutely for success, 
but had great freedom in praying that God 
would direct ; and that if it were not for my 
good my way might be hedged in, and my de- 
sign effectually disappointed. Meanwhile she 
carried on an intrigue with another, to whom 
she was soon after clandestinely married. 

4. Another marriage was proposed to me 
some time after. In the beginning of this 
affair, March, 1700, I was confident to meet 
with a disappointment ; whereon I resolved to 
quit it, and did so for some time. But God, by 
one means or other, broke all my designs of 
turning away. He visibly interposed his pro- 
vidence, gave me fresh opportunities, directed 
me to means I had never before thought of, and 
reconciled those to it from whom I expected 
the strongest opposition. 

5. Yet after I had the greatest encourage- 
ment to proceed, I met with discouragements 
again. This was followed by new encourage- 
ment when I least expected it ; and by this va- 
riety of success, I was kept low as to my 



246 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

thoughts of myself, and wholly dependant on 
God for the event. 

6. Dec. 13th. — This forenoon I set apart for 
prayer : and being to address God with regard 
to my proposal of marriage, I began the work 
with an inquiry into my own state. Upon this 
inquiry I found, 

First : With respect to God I was under a 
full conviction that life was in his favour ; nay, 
that his loving-kindness is better than life it- 
self: that any interest in his favour is utterly 
impossible without respect had to a Mediator ; — ■ 
God being holy, I unholy ; God a consuming 
fire, I a sinner meet to be consumed : that God 
out of mere love has been pleased to send into 
the world Jesus Christ, as the Mediator through 
whom sinners might regain his favour. 

Secondly : With respect to Christ, nothing 
has been able (since it was first given me) to 
shake my full conviction of the following par- 
ticulars : — that Jesus Christ is such a Saviour 
as it became the goodness, justice, wisdom, 
and power of God to provide ; and such as 
became the desires and needs of sinners, as 
being sufficient " to save all that come to God 
through him, and that to the uttermost ; his 
blood being able to cleanse from all sin, his 
power to subdue all things to himself, and his 
Spirit to lead into all truth :" that I need him in 
all his offices ; there being no time when I 
durst once think of parting them : God knows 
that my heart is as much reconciled to his 
kingly as to his priestly office, and that it would 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 247 

for ever damp me, had lie not a power to capti- 
vate " every thought to the obedience" of him- 
self ; that all my hope of freedom from that 
darkness which is my burden is from Christ's 
prophetical office ; and my hope of freedom 
from the guilt and power of sin arises from his 
priestly and kingly offices. In one word, I 
have no hope of any mercy, in time or eternity, 
but through him. It is through him I expect 
all, from the least drop of water to the immense 
riches of his glory. 

Thirdly : With respect to his law, notwith- 
standing my frequent breaches of it, I dare take 
God to witness, that I count all his command- 
ments concerning all things to be holy, and just, 
and good ; insomuch that I would not desire any 
alteration in any, and least of all in those which 
most cross my inclinations ; that I desire in- 
ward, universal conformity to them all, and that 
in the spiritual meaning and extent, as reaching 
all thoughts, words and actions, and even the 
minutest circumstances of them. 

Lastly : That, since the commencement of 
this affair particularly, I have seen a peculiar 
beauty in the law, as exemplified in the life of 
our Lord ; and more especially in his absolute 
submission to the divine will, even in those 
things which were most contrary to his innocent 
nature. And though I could scarce reach this 
submission at some times, yet I earnestly de- 
sired it. I looked upon it as exceedingly ami- 
able, and condemned myself so far as I came 
short of it. 



248 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

7. As to the whole, my spirit was in a calm 
and composed frame : but, contrary to my posi- 
tive resolution, and unrler fears ot a refusal, I 
was carried out to be more peremptory than 
usual as to the success. Yea, now, when I was 
in the most submissive frame, I was more pe- 
remptory as to the event than when my heart 
was most eagerly set upon it. 

8. Jan. 17th, 1701, was a day set apart by us 
both, to be kept with fasting and prayer, for ob- 
taining a blessing on our marriage. I began it 
with prayer, wherein I endeavoured to trace 
back sin to my very infancy. Lord, I have 
been in all sin : not one of thy commandments 
but I have broken in almost all instances ; save 
in the outward acts, and from them, O Lord, 
only thy free grace restrained me. 

I now again solemnly devoted myself to Him, 
in this new relation I was to enter upon ; be- 
seeching that he would not contend with either 
of us for the sins of our single life ; that he 
would make us holy, and bless us in this new 
state, fitting us every way for one another. In 
my second address to God by prayer, he gave 
me much sweetness and enlargement (blessed 
be his goodness!) in reference to that particular 
for which I set apart this day. When " he pre- 
pareth our hearts to pray, his ear hearkeneth 
thereto." 

This day I again searched into my state, and 
found these evidences of the Lord's work in my 
soul : (1.) He hath given me by his Spirit some 
discovery of the innumerable sins of every 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIEURTON. 249 

period of my life, and especially of the root of all 
the inexpressible corruption of my nature. (2.) 
He has discovered to me the vanity of all those 
reliefs nature leads to, with regard to the guilt 
of sin ; he hath made me see that my own works 
cannot save me, and I hope taken me off from 
resting upon them ; for, under trouble, accasion- 
ed by sin, nothing but Christ could quiet me : 
the view of my own works only increased it. 
And God, when he assisted me most therein, 
so guarded me against this, that he then always 
opened my eyes to see a world of sin in them ; 
insomuch that I have as earnestly desired to be 
saved from my best duties as ever I did from 
my worst sins : and whenever my heart inclined 
to lay some stress on duties spiritually perform- 
ed, God stirred up in my soul a holy jealousy 
over my heart in this particular. (3.) As to the 
power of sin, he hath brought me to an utter 
despair of relief from my own prayers, vows, 
and resolutions. (4.) He hath been pleased to 
determine me to choose the gospel way of sal- 
vation, by resting on Christ for righteousness, 
sanctification, and redemption, as a way full of 
admirable mercy and wisdom ; a way of great 
peace and security to sinners, and best suited 
to give glory to God. Upon these grounds I 
conclude, that the Lord hath wrought faith in 
me, and will complete my salvation ; and be- 
cause he hath determined me to choose him, 
therefore I dare call him my God, my Saviour, 
my Sanctifier. 

On January 23d, 1701, he was accordingly 



250 LIFE. OF THOMAS HALIBITRTON. 

married at Edinburgh to Janet Watson, daugh- 
ter of Mr. David Watson, of St. Andrew's. By 
her he had nine children, three sons and six 
daughters, of whom one son and five daughters 
survived him. 

9. In March, 1705, his then youngest child 
fell into a languishing illness, concerning whom 
he writes thus: " iVpril 11th, my child died: 
blessed be God, t have had a child to give at his 
call ; and blessed be the Lord, that he helped 
me to give her willingly." 

In March, 1712, his son George fell ill: I 
had often, says he, given all my children up to 
God ; and now it pleased him to try me in the 
tenderest point, whether I would stand to my 
resignation. I could not find freedom in asking 
for his life, but much in crying for mercy for 
him. Yet I cannot say but the burden was 
great upon me, till communing with a friend 
about the state of the church and religion, con- 
cern for God's interest got the ascendant over 
that for my own, and from that time I found 
comfort : and the nearer he was to his end, the 
more loosed I was from him, and the more 
cheerful was my resignation ; so that before his 
death, prayers were almost made up of praises, 
and he was set off with thanksgiving. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 251 



CHAPTER III. 

1. The place of professor of divinity in the 
university of St. Andrew's being vacant in De- 
cember, 1702, her majesty's patent was procured 
for him ; upon which he made the following re- 
flection : — " This seems to be of the Lord, for 
it was without so much as a thought in me ; yet 
were all obstructions removed, all attempts for 
others crossed, and my spirit so held that I durst 
not oppose it, but was obliged to submit to the 
desires of those who were the most competent 
judges." 

2. Accordingly, April 26th, 1710, he was by 
the principal of the college admitted into his 
professorship. But he enjoyed little health in 
that office ; for in the beginning of April, 1711, 
he was suddenly seized with a violent pleurisy, 
which obliged his physicians to take from him 
a great quantity of blood ; and although he was 
relieved from the disease, he never recovered 
his strength, by reason of the indisposition of 
his stomach, and frequent vomitings. Here- 
upon ensued, in the following winter, a coldness, 
swelling, and stiffness in his legs, with frequent 
and very painful cramps*. But besides his bodily 
illness, the grievances of the church did not a 
little add to his trouble -; especially the imposing 
the oath of abjuration upon ministers, which 
he feared might have fatal effects, from the dif- 
ference of their sentiments concerning the law- 
fulness of it. His advice upon it was, that, 



252 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

after all due information, every one should act 
according to the light he had. But what he 
most of all inculcated was, that their differing 
about the meaning of an expression therein, 
gave no just ground for any alienation of affec- 
tion, much less for separation, either among 
ministers or people. 



CHAPTER IV. 

1. On Wednesday, Sept. 17th, (and some 
days preceding,) he was under great trouble of 
mind ; and a friend asking him that morning 
how he had rested in the night, he answered, 
" Not well : I have been this night sore tossed 
with thoughts of eternity. I have been think- 
ing on the terribilia Dei* and all that is difficult 
in death to a Christian. All my enemies have 
been round about me. I had a great conflict, 
and faith was like to fail. O that I may be kept 
now in this last trial from being an offence to 
this people !" 

In the afternoon, when some of his brethren 
visited him, he said, " I am but young and of 
little experience, but this death-bed now makes 
me old : therefore I use the freedom to exhort 
you to faithfulness in the Lord's work. You 
will never repent this. He is a good Master. 
I have always found him so. If I had a thou- 
sand lives, I should think all too little to be 
employed in his service." 

* That is, the terrible things of God. 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 253 

2. Thursday, Sept. 18th, being asked in the 
morning how he was, he said, " O what a terrible 
conflict had I yesterday ! but now I may say, 
c I have fought the good right, I have kept the 
faith.' Now he hath put a new song in my 
mouth. Praise, praise is comely for the up- 
right. Shortly I shall have another sight of 
God than ever I had, and be more fit to praise 
him than ever. O the thoughts of an incarnate 
God are sweet and ravishing! And O how do 
I wonder at myself that I do not love him 
more ! that I do not admire him more ! O that 
I could honour him ! What a wonder I enjoy 
such composure under these pains, and in view 
of approaching death ! O what a mercy that 
I have the use of my reason, till I have declared 
his goodness to me!" 

To his wife he said, " He came to me in the 
third watch of the night, walking upon the 
waters, and he said to me, ' I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end : I was dead, 
and am alive, and live for evermore, and have 
the keys of death and hell.' He stilled the 
tempest of my soul, and there is a sweet calm." 

When desired to be tender of his health, he 
said, "I will strive to last as long as I cam I 
have no more to do with my time, but to tepe 
it out* for the glory of God." Then he said, 
" 'I shall see my Redeemer stand on the earth 
at the last day.' But before then I shall see the 
Lamb in the midst of the throne. O it will be 

* That is, spend it thriftily, 



254 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

a glorious -company, 'the spirits of just men 
made perfect,' and Jesus the Mediator of the 
new covenant ! O for grace ! grace to be patient 
to the end!" 

Then he desired a minister to pray. 

After prayer he called for a little water to 
wash his eyes, and said, " I hope to get them 
washed shortly, and made like doves' eyes ; and 
then farewell sin, farewell sorrow!" 

Then taking some refreshment, he said, " I 
get sleep from him, and food from him ; and I 
shall get himself. ' My flesh and my heart 
faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, 
and my portion for ever.' " 

Seeing his youngest child, he said to her, 
" Mady, my dear, the Lord bless you ; ' the God 
of your father, and my father, bless you ; the 
God that fed me all my life, the Angel that re- 
deemed me from all evil, bless you,' and the 
rest, and be your portion : that is a good heri- 
tage, better than if I had crowns and sceptres 
to leave you. My child, I received you from 
him, and I give you to him again." 

To his wife he said, " My dear, encourage 
yourself in the Lord : he will keep you, though 
you even fall into enemies' hands." And then 
declaring his willingness to part with his dear- 
est relations, he said, " This is the practice of 
religion, to make use of it when we come to the 
pinch : this is a lesson of practical divinity." 

When the physician came, he said, " Doctor, 
as to this piece of work, you are near at an end 
of it. God be with you, and persuade you to 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 255 

be in earnest : I return you thanks for your 
diligence. Is my pulse low ? I am well pleased 
it is. I would have been content to have been 
away long ere now: a few more strokes, and 
victory, victory for ever, through the Captain of 
our salvation ! 

" Now get acquaintance with God. The little 
acquaintance I have had with God, within these 
two days, has been better than ten thousand 
times the pains I have been at all my life about 
religion. It is good to have him to go to, when 
we are turning our face to the wall. He is 
known in Sion for a sure refuge, a very present 
help in trouble. 

" What a strange hardness is in the hearts of 
men ! But whether they will hear, or whether 
they will forbear, it is our duty to speak ; and 
when we are dead and gone, what we spoke in 
the name of the Lord may take hold of them." 

To his eldest child, he said, "Ah, Margaret, 
you seem sometimes to have convictions from 
God. Beware of them: they are the most 
dangerous things you ever meddled with. Each 
of them is God's messenger ; and if you de- 
spise the messenger of God, he will be avenged 
of you." 

To a minister who came in, he said, " I am 
waiting for the salvation of God." He answered, 
" If the Lord would spare you, it would be 
mercy to this place." He replied, "What can a 
poor wretch signify 1 I could do nothing : I sig- 
nify nothing. But I will tell you, brother, 
what I have thought of long : I fear, from the 



256 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

taking off of the servant of God at this time, 
that there is like to be a general overflowing 
consumption, running over not only this, but all 
the reformed churches." 

To the apothecary he said, " Study religion 
in youth : when you come to be as I am, you 
will find no comfort without it. I give you this 
as a solemn warning from God : if you come to 
be hardened by the frequent sight of men in my 
state, you may come to be hardened for ever." 

To three ministers he said, " My dear breth- 
ren, it is purely from a sincere love to you that 
I presume to say, when God helped me to dili- 
gence in studying and meditating, I found him 
then remarkably shining upon me. There is 
nothing to be had with a slack hand. You are 
in an evil day. However, be faithful, and God 
will strengthen you for his own work, if you 
are faithful therein. You cannot, it is true, 
bring all persons to the Lord ; but you may 
make their consciences, will they, nill they, 
speak for the Lord. 

" I repent," continued he ; "I did not do more 
for Him ; but I have peace in it ; what I did, I 
did in sincerity: he accepts of the mite. It 
was flie delight of my heart to preach the gos- 
pel, and it made me sometimes neglect a frail 
body. I desired to decrease that the bride- 
groom might increase, and to be nothing that he 
might be all. And I rejoice in his highness. 

" Brethren, this is encouragement for you to 
try and go farther. Alas ! I have gone no length; 
but would fain have gone farther: 'the hand of 



LIFE OF THOxMAS HALIBURTON. 257 

the diligent maketh rich.' Much study, much 
prayer, temptations also, and distinct deliver- 
ances from temptations, are useful helps. I was 
fond enough of books ; but I must say, what 
God let me see of my ill heart was of more use 
than all my books." One said, < ; This is to be- 
lieve, and therefore to speak." He replied, 
" The Lord help me to honour him : I desire 
no more. O that I had the tongues of men and 
angels to praise him ! I hope shortly to get will to 
answer my duty, and ability to answer my will. 
O to be helped so, and to fear always ! How 
soon should I fall if he withdrew ! But do not 
stumble, sirs, though I should be shaken. The 
foundation standeth sure." 

When advised to be quiet a little, he said, 
" How should a man bestow his last breath, but 
in commending the Lord Jesus Christ, God 
clothed in our nature, dying for our sins ?" And 
when again pressed to be tender of his body, 
he said, " O, but my heart is full!" And then 
desiring a minister to pray for him, he said, 
" Pray that God may have pity on a weak thing, 
that is not able to bear much in the conflict !" 

To two other ministers he said, " Above all 
scan your own hearts, and make use of what dis- 
coveries you get there, to enable you to dive 
into consciences, to awaken hypocrites, and to 
separate the precious from the vile ; and to do 
it with that accuracy and caution, as not to make 
sad the hearts which God hath made glad 1 

" With respect to the difference which this 
oath is like to make among ministers, with the 
17 



258 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

greatest earnestness I say, whenever it begins, 
remember difference is a hot thing ; there must 
be condescension, tenderness, and forbearance. 
We must not fly at the ball. . Whatever appre- 
hensions I have of some ministers not acting 
conscientiously, and preaching in such a way 
as may do hurt, yet I would speak tenderly and 
act tenderly toward them. Let there be much 
of the forbearance and meekness that is in 
Jesus. Follow peace : peace is worth much : 
wound not our church among her enemies. 
The deadly evil, which I fear will ruin all, is 
coldness and indifTerency. Many seem to try 
how far they may go without being lost ; but 
the Christian's rule is to stand at a distance." 

To him who had succeeded him in the parish 
of Ceres he said, " That people were my choice, 
to whom with much peace and pleasure I 
preached, as I could, though not as I should, 
the gospel of Christ. Though I own that in 
all things I have sinned exceedingly before the 
Lord, yet I have peace, in that with much con- 
cern I aimed at leading them to the Lord Jesus. 
Tell them that I die rejoicing in the faith and 
profession of what I often preached to them under 
a low state of body. Tell them that the gospel I 
preached to them, if they receive it not, will be a 
witness against them. We are, like our Master, 
set out for the fall and rising again of many. And 
if we can do no more, yet if we be faithful, they 
shall know that a prophet hath been amongthem." 

In the night-time he said, " This growing 
weakness of my eyes is a sign of a change ap- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 259 

proaching. If he shut my eyes, he will open my 
eyes ; eyes no more to behold vanity. But I 
shall behold him in righteousness ; and when 
I awake I shall be satisfied with his likeness." 

Afterward he said, " If this be the last day 
of my conflict, I would humbly desire of the 
Lord, that he would condescend to be tender to 
one that loves his appearing : that as he has 
dealt wonderfully with me hitherto, so he may 
deal tenderly with me even to the end, in 
loosing the pins of my tabernacle, and helping 
me to honour him by a composed resignation 
of myself into his hands." 

Finding some sweat on his face, he said, " I 
fancy a greater change is near. I can compose 
myself, I bless His name. I know not how it 
comes to pass, that one who has met with so 
much of God should be so unthankful as to 
doubt him in the least ! O what an evil heart 
of unbelief have I ! O that I should yet have 
such an enemy in my bosom !" 

When one said # , " Sir, I think you have need 
of rest ;" he answered, " I have no need of 
rest, were it not to put me in case to finish my 
course with joy. Lo, here is the power of 
Christ's death, and the efficacy of his resur- 
rection ! I find the advantage of One at the 
right hand of God, who is able to save to the 
uttermost ! That is the sight I long for : he 
will but shut my eyes, and open them in glory. 
To have my soul entirely submissive to him in 
all things, that is my desire. And so it will be 
shortly ; then never will there be a reluctant 



260 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

thought, never one more estranged thought from 
God !" 

To one who asked if he was not faint ; he 
answered, " I am not faint ; I am refreshed 
as with wine. O there is a sweet calm in my 
soul ! My desires are toward him and the re- 
membrance of his name. Remember him ! 
Why should not I remember him who remem- 
bered me in my low condition ? He passed by, 
and said, Live ! And when he says, he gives 
life." 

He then desired to have read the former part 
of the first chapter of the Second Epistle to the 
Corinthians. And after the 9th and 10th verses 
were read : " We had the sentence of death in 
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, 
but in God which raised the dead : who deli- 
vered us from so great a death, and doth deliver : 
in whom we trust that he will deliver us ;" he 
said, " Now there it is all. God hath delivered 
me, and I trust that he will deliver me, and 
bruise Satan shortly under my feet, and I shall 
get the victory over the cunning world and the 
deceitful heart. Many a weary day have I had 
with my unbelief ! If I had had faith to believe 
things not seen, to believe that my happiness 
lay not in things temporal but eternal ; if I had 
had faith's abiding impression realizing these 
things, I should not have known how to abide 
out of heaven a moment." 

When he was desired to sleep, he answered, 
" Those I am going to sleep not day or night, 
but cry, ' Holy, holy, holy !' They that wait 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 261 

on the Lord shall renew their strength, and 
mount up with wings as of an eagle. I cannot 
get my heart in a right tune, as I would have 
it ; but it will be so in a short time." After he 
had lain still a little, one said, " You have not 
slept." He answered, " No ; I had much 
work ; but, blessed be God ! pleasant work." 

Afterward, when his wife asked how he 
was, he said, " My dear, I am longing for the 
salvation of God, and hastening to it." Then, 
seeing her very sad, he said, " My dear, en- 
courage yourself: here is a body going to clay, 
and a soul going to heaven, where I hope you 
are to come." 

3. Friday, Sept. 19th. — About five in the 
morning, when he was desired to try if he could 
sleep, he answered, " No, no : should I lie 
here altogether useless ? Should not I spend 
the last of my strength to show forth his glory ? 
He then held up his hands, which were much 
swelled, and said, " Lame hands, and lame 
feet ! But see a lame man leaping and re- 
joicing." 

Feeling some pain, he said, " This is one of 
the forerunners of the change, the great change. 
O when shall I be admitted to see the glory 
of the higher house ? instead of that clouded 
night of a created sun, to see that clear and 
perfect glory !" 

After some time's silence he took leave of 
his wife and children, saluting and speaking to 
them all, one by one. Then he said, " A kind 
and affectionate wife you have been to me. 



262 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

The Lord bless you, and he shall bless you." 
To a minister that came in, he said, " Brother, 
I am upon a piece of trying work. I am part- 
ing with my wife and children. I am resolved, 
I bless his name ; though I have had one of the 
best of wives, yet she is no more mine, but the 
Lord's." 

Then to his son he said, " God bless the lad, 
and let my name be named upon him. But, O, 
what is my name ? Let the name of the Lord 
be named upon him. Tell the generation fol- 
lowing how good God is, and hand down this 
testimony." 

After that he spoke to his servants, and said, 
"My dear friends, make religion your business. 
I charge you all, beware of graceless masters ; 
seek to be with them that fear the Lord." 

Then he said, " Here is a demonstration of 
the reality of religion ; that I, a poor, weak, 
timorous man, once as much afraid of death as 
any ; I that have been many years under the 
terrors of death, come now, in the mercy of 
God, and by the power of his grace, composedly 
and with joy to look death in the face. I have 
seen it in its paleness, and in all its circum- 
stances of horror. I dare look it in the face in 
its most ghastly shape, and hope within awhile 
to have the victory." 

He then said to some ministers, " My breth- 
ren, I have been giving up my wife and chil- 
dren to God. I am upon the wing for eternity ; 
but, glory to God, I know in whom I have be- 
lieved." 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 263 

Then he said, " Dear brethren, will you speak 
a word to one that longs to hear of him ? O I 
love to hear the gospel, I love to preach : it is 
a joyful sound, a sweet sound. I love to hear 
of his name. His name is as ointment poured 
forth. I love to live preaching Christ ; and I 
love to die preaching Christ." 

After that ho said, « Brethren, I take this 
opportunity to acknowledge your tenderness to 
me, who am most unworthy of it in many 
respects. I can say, I desired to live in love 
with you, and bless God there was harmony 
among us. The Lord bless you and your 
labours : the Lord himself multiply blessings 
on you and your families, and support you 
against all discouragements." Then to one of 
them he said, " My dear friend, show kindness 
to my dear wife and children. I recommend 
her to your care : she has been the friend of my 
bosom, the wife of my youth, a faithful friend." 
Afterward he said, " Let patience have its per- 
fect work. My soul longs more than they that 
wait for the morning. Lord Jesus, make haste, . 
until the day break, and the shadows flee away." 

4. After this, at his desire, a paper was read 
over, which he had dictated some days before. 
This he owned before several witnesses, and 
desired them to attest it. The tenor whereof 
follows : — 

" Having before so disposed of my worldly 
concerns as I judged expedient for my family, 
I thought myself bound, moreover, by this latter 
will, to declare my sentiments as to religion ; 



264 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBUilTON- 

being, through the mercy of God, in the full 
and composed exercise of my reason, although 
very weak in body. 

" First, then, — I acknowledge I came into 
the world a defiled branch of apostate Adam, 
under the guilt of his sin, and tainted with the 
pollution of sin derived from him; having a 
heart full of alienation from, and enmity against, 
God : in a word, a child of wrath, an heir of 
hell. And long did I follow the bent of this 
corrupt nature, going on from ill to worse : 
indeed, I had ruined myself, and could do nothing 
for my own recovery ; and must have been ever- 
lastingly lost, if God in tender mercy had not 
looked upon me. 

li I must, on the other hand, bless God, who 
cast my lot in a land where the gospel of Christ 
is revealed; who so ordered it, that I was born 
of religious parents, and by them was seri- 
ously devoted to him. And whereas I early 
subjected myself to other lords, I adore God 
that by his word and his Spirit he ceased not 
to strive with me, until, in the day of his power, 
he made me cheerfully return to the God of my 
fathers. 

" I bless God that, when I stood trembling 
under the terrors of his law, he seasonably 
snatched me from despair, by discovering the 
blessed way of salvation for self-destroyed sin- 
ners through a dying Saviour. It is he alone 
who must answer for me. Without him I am 
undone. On him, the efficacy of his sufferings, 
the power of his resurrection, and of his whole 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 265 

mediation, as revealed in the gospel, do I build 
all my hope. 

" I bless God that he ever honoured such a 
sinful, unworthy worm, to preach the glorious 
gospel of his Son. I confess I have but ill 
managed this glorious trust, but have been a sin- 
ner in all I did exceedingly. Yet so far as I 
know my own heart, it was the life of my life 
to preach Christ crucified ; nor durst I deal 
coldly and indifferently in a matter wherein I 
knew depended both my own and my hearers' 
salvation. And I must bear testimony to my 
Master, that he never bade me go any part of 
my warfare upon my own charges. If I was 
straitened, it was ' in my own bowels f but 
when I freely gave, when I had freely received, I 
never wanted seed for sowing, and bread for the 
eater, nor (I hope) a blessing. 

" I desire to join my insignificant testimony 
to that of the glorious cloud of witnesses, that 
' the gospel is the power of God unto salvation 
to every one that believeth ;' that the way of 
holiness is the way of pleasantness and peace, 
and the ordinances of the gospel are the effect- 
ual means of communion and fellowship with 
the Father and the Son. 

" Indeed, all in God's way, and in his word, 
is glorious, honourable, and like himself: he 
needs none of our testimonies ; but it is the least 
we can do to celebrate his praises. I therefore, 
being in some sense obliged, take this solemn 
occasion, before all the world, to acknowledge 
these among many other obligations I have 



266 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

received from him ; and to bequeath, as my last 
legacy to my family, this pious advice, — to 
choose the Lord for their God ; for he hath been 
my father's God, the God both of my wife's pre- 
decessors and mine. We hope he hath been 
our God ; and I recommend him to my children, 
solemnly charging them, as they will answer it 
at the last day, to make it their first care to 
seek peace with God and reconciliation through 
Christ crucified ; and, being reconciled, to make 
it their perpetual study to please him in all 
things. It is my repeated charge to you all. 
Follow God ; follow him early, follow him fully. 
I have often devoted you, as I could, to God ; 
and there is nothing I have so much at heart as 
to have this stand, that ye may indeed be the 
Lord's. that God himself may determine 
your tender hearts to seek him early, and he 
will be a good portion, and see well to you. 

" As for my body, I commit it to the dust, 
under the care of the Keeper of Israel ; expect- 
ing and hoping that that quickening Spirit, who 
is the Spirit of the Head, and actuates all the 
members of his mystical body, will, in due time, 
quicken my mortal body : and for my spirit, I 
commit it unto the Lord Jesus, with whom I have 
intrusted it long ago ; and I will resign it with 
Stephen, crying, ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' 
" Thomas Haliburton." 

5. Soon after he said, "I confess God has 
been beating me in a mortar this long time ; but 
he has been doing much work. My soul is even 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 267 

as a weaned child. I am loosed from all my 
enjoyments. My heart is disengaged even from 
my dearest wife and children ; but I have put 
them in a good hand." 

To a friend he said, " There is a sweet com- 
posure in the Lord. The beams of the house 
are as goodly cedar. I am laying down my ta- 
bernacle to resume it again. O for grace to be 
faithful unto death ! After we have gone through 
many things, we have still need to wait on God 
till the last. For ' he that endureth to the end, 
the same shall be saved.' " 

Then he said to the physician, " I fancy my 
feet are growing cold : yea, all the parts of this 
body are going to ruin. You may believe a 
man stepping into eternity. I am not acting as 
a fool. I have weighed eternity this night. I 
have looked on death in every circumstance 
that is terrible to nature. And under the view 
of all these, I found that in the way of God 
there is not only a rational satisfaction, but a 
power that engages and rejoices the heart. I 
have narrow thoughts : I am like to be over- 
whelmed, and I know not where I am, when I 
think on what I am to be, and what I am to see. 
I have long desired and prayed for it." 

Some time after he said, " O sir, I dread 
mightily that a rational sort of religion is com- 
ing in among us ; a religion that consists wholly 
in moral duties and ordinances, without ' the 
power of godliness,' a way of serving God which 
is mere deism, having no relation to Jesus Christ 
and the Spirit of God." 



268 LIFE OF THOMAS KALIBURTON. 

To a minister that came from Edinburgh he 
said, " Come, and see your friend in the best 
case you ever saw him in, longing for a deliver- 
ance, and hasting to the coming of the day of 
God. I sent for you to encourage you to preach 
the gospel in an ill world, and to stand by Christ, 
who hath been so good to me. This is the best 
pulpit that ever I was in. I am now laid on this 
bed for this end, that I may commend my Lord." 

6. Saturday, Sept. 20th. In the morning, 
when a minister asked how he was, he answer- 
ed, " I am composed, waiting for Him." He 
replied, " You see how kindly he deals with 
you : he gives you both heavenly exercise and 
heavenly enjoyments : he deals so tenderly 
with you, that you have little more to do but to 
praise." He answered, " I have reason to de- 
sire the help of all to praise him. Bless the 
Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within me, 
magnify his holy name !" 

To some entering the room he said, " You 
are all very welcome. I am taking a little wine 
for refreshment. In awhile I shall have new 
wine in the kingdom of Iris glory. I dare scarce 
allow my thoughts to fix directly upon it. I 
must look aside, lest I be overwhelmed. But 
I must speak of Him who hath done wonderful 
things for me, and kept me in a perfect calm. 
Yerily, light is sown for the upright, and glad- 
ness for the true of heart. O when shall I con- 
ceive aright of glory ! I cannot order my speech 
now, because of darkness. I long to behold it, 
but I will wait till He comes. I have expe- 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 269 

rienced much of his goodness since I lay on 
this bed. I have found that tribulation worketh 
patience, and patience experience, and experi- 
ence, hope. And I have found the love of God 
shed abroad in my soul." Then turning to his 
wife, he said, " My dear, encourage yourself in 
the hope that, under the conduct of the same 
Captain of salvation, you will come hither also. 
Cast yourself and your family upon the Lord* 
Encourage yourself: God liveth. Blessed be 
my Redeemer, the rock of my salvation r 

Then he said, "Who. is like unto him? O 
what has he allowed me this night ! I know 
now the meaning of that, ' Whatsoever ye shall 
ask in my name, ye shall receive it.' The Lord 
hath even allowed me to be very minute in 
every circumstance. Many a day have I feared 
how I should get through the valley of the sha- 
dow of death ; but now I fear not. Blessed be 
God, who since I lay down here hath carried 
on a work of sanctification far in my soul, that 
makes me meet for heaven ! Young as I am, I 
die old and satisfied with days. The child is 
going to die, a hundred years old. I am like a 
shock of corn fully ripe. But O, I have been 
under a bright sun, in a day when the Sun of 
righteousness shone, and I have had glorious 
showers." 

After a little silence, he said, " I have slept, 
and am refreshed. And now what shall I say ? 
I can say no more to commend the Lord ; not 
for want of matter, but of words. Well, sirs, 
you will meet with difficulties ; but this may en- 



270 LIFE OF THOMAS HAIilBURTON. 

courage you : you see God own his servants, 
and should not his servants own him, and de- 
spise what his enemies can do against them 1 
God has kept my judgment for the best piece of 
work I ever had. O what of God do I see ! I 
never saw any thing like it. The beginning 
and end of religion are wonderfully sweet." 
One said, " God's dealings with you have been 
very uncommon." He answered, " Very un- 
common indeed, if you knew all that I know. 
But therein is the excellency of his power seen, 
in that he maketh the weak strong." 

Awhile after he said to those about him, " 
this is the most honourable pulpit I was ever in ! 
I am preaching the same Christ, the same holi- 
ness, the same happiness, 1 did before. I have 
much satisfaction in that. I am not ashamed 
of the gospel I have preached. I was never 
ashamed of it all my days, and I am not ashamed 
of it at the last. Here am I, a weak man, in the 
hands of the king of terrors, rejoicing in hope 
of the glory that shall be revealed ; and that by 
the death and resurrection of a despised Christ. 
When the beginning of this trouble was upon 
me, I aimed, as my strength would allow, at 
that, ' Show me some token for good ;' and, 
indeed, I think God hath showed me a token 
for good." 

Then perceiving his spirits faint, he said, 
" Come, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, flutter- 
ing within my breast like a bird to be out of the 
snare. When shall I hear him say, ' The win- 
ter is past ; arise, my love, and come away !' 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 271 

Come and take me by the hand, that I stumble 
not in the dark valley of death !" 

Then he desired a minister to pray ; and after 
prayer said, " Lord, I wait for thy salvation. I 
wait as the watchman watcheth for the morning. 
I am weary with delays ! O why are his cha- 
riot-wheels so long a coming ? I am sick of 
love ; I am faint with delay." 

Then he said, " Draw the curtains about me, 
and let me see what he has a mind to do with 
me." And after awhile, " Whence is this to 
me ? There is a strange change within this 
half hour. Ah, I am like to be shipwrecked to 
health again. O what a sort of providence is 
this ! I was in hopes to have been at my jour- 
ney's end, and now I am detained by a cross 
wind. I desire to be patient under His hand ; 
but he must open my heart to glorify him. O 
pray for me ; pray for me ; that none who fear 
him may be ashamed on my account." 

To the apothecary he said, " I thought to have 
been away ; but I am come back again. I was 
glad to be gone ; yet I am not wearied. He 
has not allowed a fretting thought. My pain is 
great ; but I am enabled to bear it. O I am a 
monument, a monument of the power of God. 
My great desire has been these many years to 
suffer for the truth of our religion. And now 
God has given me the greatest honour, to be a 
living witness to it. I am a monument that we 
have not followed cunningly devised fables. I 
shall be at heaven shortly, by the word of my 
testimony, and the blood of the Lamb." Then 



272 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

to a citizen he said, " There are but a few names 
in this place that set their faces heavenward. 
But be you encouraged to go on. You have 
been a kind neighbour : the Lord bless you and 
your family. They that are planted in the house 
of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our 
God. Here is an evidence of it. Last winter 
I thought I was going to be cast out as a with- 
ered branch : and now the dead stock that was 
cut has budded again, and grown a tall cedar in 
Lebanon." 

Then he said to the ministers, " I desire to 
hear the w r ord read, the w^ord preached. Many 
times when I thought on the worthies of old, I 
said, I was born out of due time : but now I 
think I am born in due time ; for I shall see Je- 
sus ! Jesus that delivers from the wrath to come. 
I shall see Elijah and Moses, the great Old Tes- 
tament prophets. I shall see the two great 
Mediators, the type and the antitype. The 
three disciples got a glorious sight of Christ in 
his transfiguration, to confirm their faith against 
the objections of the unbelieving. Was he de- 
spised as a mere man, and his Godhead disown- 
ed? Lo, here he appears in divine majesty 
and glory ! Did they say he was against the 
law ? Lo, here Moses, by whom the law was 
given, adoring him. Did they say, he was not 
the Messiah foretold by the prophets ? Lo, here 
Elijah, the most zealous of them, owning and 
honouring him. Was he reproached as a de- 
ceiver of the people ? Lo, the voice from hea- 
ven saith, i This is my beloved Son, in whom I 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 273 

am well pleased : hear ye him.' Yet this sight 
was of short continuance. But in heaven we 
shall have an abiding sight. We shall then be- 
hold his glory ; and we shall be like unto him : 
for we shall see him as he is. 

" O ! I am full of matter ! I know not where 
to begin or end. The Spirit of the Lord hath 
been mighty with me ! O the book of God is a 
strange book ! It is written within and without. 
I never studied it to the half of what I should : 
but now God hath given me much of it together. 
Never was I more uneasy in my life ; and yet 
I was never more easy. All my bones are ready 
to break ; my hand is a burden to me ; and yet 
all is easy !" 

Then to his wife he said, " O my sweet bird, 
are you there ? I am no more yours ; I am the 
Lord's. I remember the day I took you by the 
hand, I thought on parting with you. But I 
knew not how to get my heart off of you again : 
yet now I have got it done. Will you not give 
me to the Lord, my dear ?" 

Then seeing her very sad, he said, " My dear, 
do not weep, you should rather rejoice : rejoice 
with me, and let us exalt his name together. I 
shall be in the same family with you ; but you 
must stay a little behind, and take care of God's 
children." 

When awakened out of sleep, he said, " I am 
now hand in hand, grappling with my last ene- 
my : and I find he is a conquerable enemy ; 
yea, I am more than conqueror." One said, "A 
strange champion indeed !" He answered, " I ! 
18 



274 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBXJRTON. 

not I, but the grace of God that is in me. By 
the grace of God, I am what I am ; and the God 
of peace hath bruised Satan under my feet. I 
have often wondered how the martyrs could 
clap their hands in the fire : I do not wonder at 
it now. I could clap my hands, though you 
held burning candles to them, and think it no 
hardship, though the flames were going about 
them. And yet, were the Lord withdrawn, I 
should cry, and not be able to bear it, if you but 
touched my foot." 

7. Sunday, September 21st. — About three in 
the morning he said, " And is it the Sabbath 
then? This is the best Sabbath I ever had. 
On a Sabbath night my George went to his 
test : I bestowed him on God, blessed be his 
name ! and he made me content. I would have 
given him all my children that way ; and I hope 
it shall be so : blessed be his name !" 

After a little pause he said, " Shall I forget 
Sion ? Then let my right hand forget her cun- 
ning. O, to have God returning to his church, 
and his work going on in the world ! If every 
drop of my blood, every atom of my body, every 
hair of my head, were men, they should all go 
to the fire, to have this going on." 

After that he said, " I could not believe that 
I could have borne, and borne cheerfully, this 
rod so long. This is a miracle, — pain without 
pain. Blessed be God that ever I was born ! 
I have a father, a mother, and ten brethren and 
sisters in heaven, and I shall be the eleventh. 
O blessed be the day that ever I was born ! O 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 275 

if I were where He is ! And yet for all this, 
God's withdrawing from me would make me as 
weak as water. All which I enjoy, though it 
be miracle upon miracle, would not make me 
stand without new supplies from God. The 
thing I rejoice in is, that God is altogether full, 
and that in Jesus Christ there is all the fulness 
of the Godhead." 

Then to his wife he said, " O wait upon him; 
for he is a good God to all that serve him. He 
never takes any thing from them, but he gives 
them as good or better back again. My dear, 
we have had many a sweet day together ; we 
must part for awhile ; but we shall meet again, 
and shall have one work, the praises of God, 
and the praises of the Lamb !" 

Then to some present he said, " Do you think 
that he will come and receive the prisoner of 
hope to-day ? Whether he do or no, he is holy 
and righteous ; yet, I confess, I long for it. I 
do not tire : but the hireling longs for his wages. 
If in his adorable wisdom he try me farther, 
holy and reverend is his name ; he is not want- 
ing to me. I desire only grace to be faithful 
unto death, until I come to the land of praises, 
to thy gates, O Jerusalem, to give thanks to the 
name of the God of Jacob." 

Then a minister asking if he should pray, he 
answered, " Yea, yea, pray for me." And after 
prayer, he said, " This night my skin has burn- 
ed, my heart has panted, my body has been 
bruised, and there is a sore upon me that is 
racking my spirit ; and yet I cannot say, but 



276 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURT0N. 

the Lord still holds me in health in the midst 
of all. If he should please to continue me 
years in this case, I have no reason to com- 
plain." One said, " No hypocrite is able, in 
such a condition, to counterfeit such language." 
He answered, " It is as great a wonder to me, 
as to any about me. Brother, I know not whe- 
ther I may desire you to beg of the Lord, with 
respect to this poor body, to shorten my trial, if 
it be his will : the hireling longs for his wages ; 
but I have reason to do it with submission. 

" I long for a deliverance from the remainders 
of a body of sin. But if God lengthens my 
trouble, then why not ? Righteousness is his 
name. I know not what alteration may be. I 
confess, I am like a bird on the wing : and I 
would fain be at Immanuel's land, where the 
tree of life is. 

"Well, all this is encouragement to you, to 
acquaint yourselves with God. All these soft 
clothes are like sackcloth to me ; and yet I have 
perfect ease of spirit. My breast and my stomach 
are drawn all together, as it were with cords ; 
and yet the mercy of God keeps me composed. 
What is this ? I could scarce have believed, 
even though I had been told, that I could have 
kept in the right exercise of my judgment under 
this racking pain. Whatever come of it, this is 
a demonstration that there is a reality in reli- 
gion ; and I rejoice in this, that God hath 
honoured a sinful worm, so as to be a demon- 
stration of his grace. My dear friends, while I 
live I must preach the gospel. He has given 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 277 

me awhile yet here, which ought to be reckon- 
ed precious ; and so long as it lasts, my work 
is still to commend him. The word speaks, 
providence speaks in me : despise not the gos- 
pel under this new discovery. I am a sinner ; 
shame belongs to me : worthy is the Lamb to 
receive glory." 

To two ministers who stayed with him while 
the rest went to church, he said, " If my head 
would bear it, I would fain hear singing. I do 
not find any change, and God has in some mea- 
sure taken away my inclination to limit him as 
to the hour." He then joined in singing the 
latter part of the eighty-fourth psalm ; and after 
singing, said, " I always had a mistimed voice, 
and which is worse, a mistuned heart ; but 
when I join the temple service above, there 
shall not be one string of the affections out of 
tune." 

To some that came from church he said, 
" You have been in the assembly of God's peo- 
ple, wherein communion with the Father and 
Son may be attained. These enjoyments are 
some of the most valuable to be had here, and 
the way to the rest which remaineth for the 
people of God. O how amiable are thy taber- 
nacles, even here ! But how much more so 
above, where there is the eagle's eye, that can 
see the glorious light, even the light of the 
Lord !" 

Then to the ministers he said, " When this 
trouble began, I expected no smile from God. I 
thought if I could steal away, creeping with 



278 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

terrors, to be plunged into eternity with a per- 
adventure, it was fair. But he hath taken me 
out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a 
rock. I am nothing, less than nothing, a vile 
sinner ; but mercy does all." 

In the night he caused the Songs of Degrees 
to be read ; and said, " These psalms are so 
called, say some, because they were sung on 
the steps of the stairs that led up to the temple. 
And what fitter to be read to a poor sinner, that 
aims at climbing up the hill of God, where the 
great temple of God is ?" 

8. Monday, September 22 d. — At half an hour 
past two, he asked what hour it was, and said, 
" Early in the morning my friends shall be ac- 
quainted ; for I expect this cough will hasten 
my deliverance. Well, well ; I shall get out 
of the dark cloud ; within a little I shall be in 
Abraham's bosom ; yea, in His who carries the 
lambs in his bosom : and I am sure of goodness 
and mercy to follow me. O how good is he to 
a poor worm ! Let us exalt his name together. 
It is the constant employ of all above, day and 
night. They see and sing ; they have a clear 
vision. O when shall I see His face who is 
fairer than the sons of men ! yea, who is brighter 
than the sun in his strength !" 

To a minister he said, " Could I have believ- 
ed (but I am an unbeliever) that I could have 
had this pleasure in this condition ? Once or 
twice Satan was assaulting my faith. I waked 
in a sort of carnal frame, and I thought I had 
lost my jewel ; but now He will stand by me to 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 279 

the end. What shall I render to him ! My 
bones are rising through my skin ; and yet all 
my bones are praising him." 

After' struggling with a defluetion in his 
throat, he said, " This is a messenger from 
God to hasten me home. The other day I would 
have gone away without this glorious evidence 
of the grace of God. But this is more for my 
advantage, that I am thus tried and comforted. 
I said, Why are his chariot wheels so long a 
coming ? But I will not say so any more. Yet 
a little while, and he that shall come will come, 
and will not tarry." 

Then he said, " If I should say that I would 
speak no more in the name of the Lord, it would 
be like a fire within my breast." And some look- 
ing at him as in amaze, he said, " Why look 
ye steadfastly on me, as though by might or 
power I were so ? Not I, but the grace of 
God in me. It is the Spirit of God that sup- 
ports me." 

To his wife he said, " Be not discouraged, my 
dear, at the unavoidable consequences of nature. 
It is an evidence that there is but very little 
time more, and death will be swallowed up in 
victory : the body will be shaken in pieces, and 
yet, blessed be God, my head is composed as it 
was before my sickness." 

Then to some present he said, " My moisture 
is much exhausted this night ; but the dew lies 
all night on my branches, the dew that waits 
not for man, nor tarries for the sons of men. O 
what cannot grace do ! How have I formerly 



280 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

repined at the hundredth part of this trouble I 

study the power of religion ! It is the power 
of religion, and not the name, will give the com- 
fort I find. I have peace in the midst of pain. 
And O how much of that I have had for a long 
time past ! My peace has been like a river ; 
not a discomposed thought. There have been 
some little suggestions, when my enemies join- 
ed in a league together, and made their great 
assault upon me. I had then one assault, and 

1 was like to fall. But since the Lord rebuked 
them, there is not a discomposed thought, but 
all is calm." 

To a gentlewoman he said, " You are come 
to see your old dying friend ; a wonder indeed, 
but a wonder of mercy. I am preaching still, 
and I would be content so to do, till these flesh 
and bones were wasted to nothing. The God 
of glory appeared to me, and the first sight I had 
of him was such as won my heart to him, so as 
it was never loosed. Many wanderings I have 
had, but I was never myself till I went back to 
my centre again." He then rattled a little in 
his throat, and said, " This may be irksome to 
you ; but every messenger of death is pleasant 
to me ; and I am only detained here, that I may 
trumpet forth his praise a little longer." 

About noon he said, " I was just thinking on 
the pleasant spot of earth I shall get to lie in, 
beside Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Forrester, and Mr. 
Anderson. I shall come in as the little one 
among them, and I shall get my pleasant George 
in my hand ; and O we shall be a knot of bonny 



LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 281 

dust !" Then he said, " It will not be all my 
sore bones, that will make me weary yet (as 
long as God gives me judgment to conceive, and 
a tongue to speak) to preach his gospel." 

Then with the utmost warmth he broke out, 
" Strange ! this body is sinking into corruption, 
and yet my intellectuals are so lively, that I 
cannot say there is the least alteration, the 
least decay of judgment or memory. Such vigo- 
rous actings of my spirit toward God, and things 
that are not seen ! But not unto us, not unto 
us ; which I must have still on my heart, since 
cursed self is apt to steal the glory from God !" 

Some time after he said, " Good is the will 
of the Lord. Every one of these throws is 
good ; and I must not want one of them : I must 
not fly from my post, but stand as a sentinel ; 
for this is my particular work. This would be 
hard work without Christ ; but it is easy with 
him, for he is the Captain of my salvation." 

He mentioned the pain in his head, but said, 
"In a battle there must be blood and dust. 
Every battle of the warrior is with confused 
noise, and garments rolled in blood. It is meet 
I should be so hard put to it, that I may know 
to whom I owe my strength. O that I were 
at the throne above, that my glimmering sight 
were taken away, that this unsteady faith might 
terminate in vision !" 

Then he said, " If I am able, though I cannot 
speak, I will show you a sign of triumph, when 
I am near glory !" 

To his wife he said, " My dear, be not dis- 



282 LIFE OF THOMAS HALIBURTON. 

couraged, though I should go away in a fainting 
fit. The Lord's way is the best way. I am 
composed. Though my body be vexed, my 
spirit is untouched." 

One said, " Now you are putting your seal to 
that truth, that godliness is great gain. And I 
hope you are encouraging yourself in the Lord." 
As a sign of it, he lifted up his hands and clap- 
ped them. And in a little time, about seven in 
the morning, he went to the land where the 
weary are at rest. 

" O may I triumph so, 

When all my warfare's past, 
And dying find my latest foe 
Under my feet at last. 

" This blessed word be mine, 

Just as the port is gain'd, 
1 Kept by the power of grace divine, 

I have the faith maintain'd.' " 



MAR 8 1907 



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